songerein | { GAME OPENING LOG }

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{ GAME OPENING LOG }

✵ GAME OPENING LOG ✵
Normally our TDMs serve as intro logs, but we have prepared a special character intro log for game opening! It is a massive, chaotic feast that can only be found in a dreamworld like Songerein. You can also use this to continue ongoing TDM threads, especially as it nears captcha. Reminder that any thread from the TDM can be carried over. Players are also welcome to make their own logs for things if they would rather skip this part. Be sure to read the Mod Announcement for other information and you can ask any questions regarding the log here.

I. THE FEAST

As the sleepy looking sun begins to set, the small little tapir fairies will buzz around to find all the new inhabitants and usher them to the plaza. There everyone will find several tables of various lengths, sizes, and shapes. Yes, that is a star shaped table along with a moon one. A special feast has been made just for them to welcome and celebrate their arrival. Some may even recognize decorations: leaves mottled and changing to an assortment of colors, festive streamers, popcorn strings, glittering garlands and bows, string lanterns, and maybe a few small gravestones here and there. Some areas might look a bit brown and withered while some of the trees take on a more cherry blossom look. It's a bit of a strange mashup, and yet the chaos seems to have a sense of harmony as well—especially when considering everything else that the feast has to offer. This is one divine feast that is going to be completely topsy turvy.

A. What's Your Sign? Everyone will find themselves mysteriously "tagged" with a special sticker and will suddenly gain special characteristics based off the animal: ears, tails, behavioral traits. They're mostly mild and to add flavor, but they may also feel different compatibility towards another, such as more attracted or opposed. The sticker will be hard to remove, but it is possible to swap with someone if they want to try a different experience.

B. Special Bowls. There are many tables and anyone can sit wherever they want. Just don't forget to pick up the special dinner bowl already personalized with their name on it. Of course there are some extra paints and decorations that can be added to it if one desires.

C. Wild Food. Every table has the same kind of food, and there is plenty to go around. Of course, that's only if the food can be caught and if one can keep an appetite for some of them. The boar's head is a bit talkative and might settle down if someone stuffs an apple in its mouth or tells it a joke. However, it might just get several laughs by the barrel of monkeys funnel cake nearby, monkey shaped pastries hiding within it to chuck out various candies and fruits. Not even the candy is safe, at least not the stringed ones. Licorice, chocolate coated taffy, and others will start slithering around and even hiss, sometimes wrapping around the arm of those who try to eat them. Playing some music might calm these sweet serpents so they can be eaten properly. How about that special carousel cake stand with the horse cookies prancing about?

D. Spice Up Your Li—Meal. However fear not. There is normal food around so it is possible to have a proper meal. However, some helpful little dragons may fly by to add a few herbs and spices to the dishes. They are quite friendly and will listen to requests, however if one is rude or too demanding, they may just dump a bunch of a hot pepper and other unsavory seasoning instead. Make a good enough impression and they might make house calls, even follow someone home. They live to spice up food, after all.

E. Drink Tea. Although there is an assortment of beverages, the prevalent one will be tea. They are similar to the ones found in the cafe and all will help bring out festive dreams and restful sleep later for everyone. However, someone is clearly making mischief as they have slipped in some rodentia tea. Drinking it will cause the drinker to shrink to the size of a rat. The only way to return to normal is to find the elusive cat cookies, which can be strangely hard to find; they seem to vanish and reappear at random, but only the ones with wide grins and “Eat Me” written on them can be eaten.

II. FUN & GAMES

Perhaps the food isn't up to one's tastes, or they just would rather have some fun. There are a few games around the plaza that everyone is welcome to participate in and they are encouraged to play to their heart's content. Just beware of the geese as they are being a menace not only at the tables but disrupting games as well.

A. Playing Chicken. A simple game, really, one that will test one's creativity and taste buds. There is a goat cheese fondue fountain surrounded with various platters of cooked chicken: grilled, steamed, boiled, baked, fried. This fondue fountain, however, is special. The flavor of the fondue can be altered depending on the kinds of emotions near it. Joy and love make it sugary sweet, anger and jealousy spicy hot, despair and distrust salty sour. And of course everything in-between including a chaotic mix. The challenge is one person will try and alter the flavor of the fondue, lather it on a piece of chicken, and then hand it to their opponent. The chicken must then be consumed. If not, the one who "cooked" it wins. If it is consumed, then the second person can now do the same to the other. This continues until one forfeits. It should be noted that the emotions of the one eating can also affect the fondue. (It is of course possible to take either the fondue or chicken without playing this stomach churning game.)

B. Gravity of Luck. There is a special wheel lottery set on a table decorated with rabbits. In fact there are a lot of rabbits congregating here and would love a few carrots. Anyone is free to spin the wheel one time per round to determine what kind of special "gravity" effect they receive. Each time the wheel is spun, a ball will drop and the color will indicate the type. A gold ball will cause them to lose all sense of gravity, their bodies starting to float away and although they can fly and float around, they'll need help being tethered down. White balls allow them to jump higher, small mushrooms appearing at their feet so others can follow. A black ball will cause them to be stuck in place, even fall flat all the way to the ground and need help standing up. Those imbued with the power of the different balls can help balance each other out until the effect wears off in half an hour.

C. Ox Go-Kart. For those who really want some speed and action, there are ox driven carts stationed by various streets. Two people can partner up with one driving and the other serving to help try to slow the other cart down. In this race, all non-lethal, non-destructive abilities are allowed to try and disrupt the other racer. Perhaps utilizing dreamotion based abilities may fare better. Just beware of other obstacles, especially any random crying dodos that create giant pools of tears as water hazards.

D. Tiger Fishing. There are special colorful ponds filled with sparkly gummy koi fish. At each one there is a little round tiger(?) with a pair of tiger mittens. In the same vein of fish scooping games, players must wear the tiger mittens and catch the gummy fish with them. It won't be easy as the gummy fish are even more slippery than normal. Perhaps some other skills could be used...but the little tiger will be watching and will latch onto anyone's heads who try to cheat. But if caught, they will make for a delectable treat—or interesting pet.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Roxas lets out a growl at Reaper, but stops his thrashing when he's held up higher. He looks down, gulping as he feels his stomach drop. He looks up at Reaper, and though he has a frown on his face, he calms down some.]

Alright, alright. Can you please put me down?

[One didn't need to be afraid of heights to recognize the danger of being up too high. He didn't shake the kid, and he was prepared to catch the blond if slipping out of that jacket was a possibility. No point breaking any legs yet.]

That's better.

[Slowly he lowered the kid down to the table again then crouched so they were closer to eye to eye.]

You're clearly a lured-into-a-panel-van-with-candy kind of kid...

[Roxas lets out a little "woah!" of surprise, but lets out a sigh of relief when his feet hit the ground. He brushes himself off before frowning at Reaper.]

Lured into a what..?

[Sorry, Reaper, the reference is lost on him. But he figures it's some kind of insult.]

It's a feast. How was I supposed to know the food would do that?

[Reaper made a groaning noise of disapproval. Young people these days! They couldn't even understand a classics. He eased forward so he could lean an arm on the table, partially blocking off paths that might lead this kid right off the table edge.]

You must come from Indiana for not knowing what a panel van is.

[Though not even Jack had been that backwater. He could still throw shade at the State anyway.]

Let's think about that? It's a welcoming party by fae and the food talks, sings and moves? How is that not red flags?

[He pause as he leaned down to be closer to be eye level with Roxas.]

You know what the term 'red flag' is, right?

I know what a red flag is.

[That, fortunately, is a term Roxas is familiar with. It doesn't take the frown off his face, looking up defiantly at Reaper despite him being ten times his size.]

Things like that are weird, yeah, but it's not any different than some of the things I've seen in some worlds. Different worlds work differently, and sometimes that includes talking objects or fairy magic.

[Just imagine this guy in a world like Wonderland or Neverland... though, if he had to guess, he'd probably fit in well in Halloween Town.]

And I'm from Twilight Town. I've never heard of a world called Indiana.

[Well, thank the Lord for small miracles. The kid might be small but not completely hopeless. Maybe in a dream he could show this blond what a panel van was and the reference in the first place.]

So you sail space and time, do you? You seem a little young to be a pilot for space travel.

[It was curious, but he had met several individuals in Deerington how had traveled space before. They had described it, though he himself had never experienced it himself. Maybe this kid was on a crew or something.]

I've never heard of Twilight Town. What planet is it on?

Just space. I've never traveled through time.

[Time, however... that was Sora. Roxas didn't understand it very well, but still. And it was less travelling with a Gummi ship and more traversing with Corridors of Darkness, but still. World travel was world travel.]

Just because I'm young doesn't mean I'm not capable of handling myself.

[What is it with old guys and poking fun at the youth? It reminds him a bit of Xigbar and his constant teasing... He does give Reaper a curious look despite his frown.]

Planet..? Twilight Town is the world I'm from. [Indicating that, somehow, the world itself is called Twilight Town.]

Well, no one's perfect, I suppose.

[His tone indicated some manner of feigned disapproval. As he had never been to space himself, he couldn't throw stones, but the worlds that this kid had been too seemed strange if being shrunk down was a normal affair.]

I never said you couldn't handle yourself. I said you're young to be a space-faring pilot.

[There was a difference, though if the kid was so good, maybe getting shrunk down and running around was not the smartest move. There were plenty of strangers and even dangers that could end a journey like this poorly.]

Your world is one town? [Talk about urban sprawl.]

What does age have to do with anything?

[He's not sure why that has to be a thing. Sora's young, and he's saved multiple worlds multiple times. And technically, he was only 2 or 3 years old, if they only counted the years he was his own being. Age shouldn't matter, in his opinion.]

I mean... yeah. The town, and the area around it. That's what the world's made of.

Education and training usually. Are you secretly a sixty year old?

[Reaper was from a world full of heroes but most of them were military trained, and fortunately for the US, child soldiers weren't a thing they had to deal with much. Organized crime and gangs? Well, yes but no one was perfect.]

An entire planet is one town. That's either a massive town or a small world.

Do I look like an old man to you?

[He frowns at Reaper. He's not some wrinkly old man, thank you very much!]

It may be small, but it's home. Your world's probably just different.

Hardly. You look more like a pretty doll than a man at all.

[Being that young and fresh faced meant to him that the kid couldn't have enough time and experience necessary to actually travel through space effectively. There were too many aspects of such travel that could and would go wrong and it required time this kid just couldn't have.]

My world is definitely different. Different towns, cities, states, countries all make up one planet.

I'm not a doll.

[That comment makes Roxas's frown deepen. Maybe because it reminds him of when people would call Xion a puppet, and how his heart is technically now residing in a Replica vessel... it just rubs him the wrong way a little.]

Sounds pretty big. But just cause my world's smaller doesn't mean it's worse than yours. All worlds are important.

A model then?

[He could tell that there was something about the comment that earned a reaction out of the kid, though what part of it, he didn't know. Clearly that meant that there was room for further investigation on the matter.]

Are they? That's rather optimistic of you. What's given you that impression?

[Roxas's brow furrows, but more in confusion. A model? He's... not sure if he knows what a model is. The one downside of being a Nobody with very little world experience, and who shares memories with another kid who grew up on a rather humble set of islands.]

[But Roxas doesn't linger too long on that, instead focusing on the man's other worlds.]

Because I've seen them with my own eyes. It doesn't matter how big or small a world is, it's still important in its own way. All worlds are.

[Well, this kid was apparently very worldly, though he wasn't entirely understanding how small these worlds could be. Weren't planets massive? It sounded like this kid was talking about things as small as an asteroid?]

Aren't you just Captain Planet... you've seen no worlds that aren't inhabitable?

[Captain... what? Geez, who was this guy, Xigbar? He wasn't the biggest fan of pet names like that, especially if they were meant to be teasing. He just kind of wishes he knew half the references being tossed his way, so he can know if this guy's messing with him.]

No, I haven't. Every world I've been to has its own people, its own rules, and its own way of life.

[This kid clearly had no clue, and that was both better and worse. Better because he could fling more references. Worse because the kid clearly wasn't going to understand them.]

I'm sure there must be some. There are certain requirements needed for life to be created and sustained.

[At least that's what science told him. It wasn't as if Venus and Mercury were brimming with life.]

[Roxas probably won't understand many pop culture references, and so he will probably assume all of them are insults. At Reaper's query, Roxas shrugs, placing a hand over his chest.]

Well, to be alive, you need to have a heart, right? And all the worlds I went to had people who were whole, so... maybe that's it. To have life, you need a heart. Whether it's a heart of light or a heart of darkness, that's what's needed to make someone whole.

[He says it 100% seriously, too.]

[Behind his mask, Reaper's brows drew together. At first, he thought that this kid was mocking him before he realized that no, this kid was actually serious. Clearly the education system had failed somewhere along the way in that kid's universe.

Oh he was going to need a stiff drink after this conversation.]

You also need a nervous, skeletal, muscle, digestive and endocrine system not just a vascular one. Anatomy 101...?

...those are body parts, right?

[Sorry, Reaper, but Roxas never got a lesson in anatomy. Most of his knowledge about stuff comes from his own limited experience or the fragments of memory he remembers from Sora. But he shakes his head.]

I mean, yeah, you need body parts too. But the thing you need for life is a heart. After all, without your heart, you wouldn't be able to feel emotions or remember memories, or be able to connect to others... Hearts are powerful things. So, that would make sense, right? All the living things in all the worlds I've seen have hearts.

[His choice of words might clue Reaper in to the fact he's not talking about a literal heart per se.]

[Clearly there had been a distinct lack of formal education for this kid, which normally wouldn't be anything to mock. After all, not everyone had the same opportunities, but the fact that the questions came on the heels after a conversation about space travel.]

Memories and emotions are processed in the brain, not the heart. The heart is literally for pumping blood around your body. [Was this how Moira felt when trying to dumb something down for him sometimes? No, she would definitely insult him in her own way. Either way, he was going for full literal just to be a pain.]

Hearts are literally conducive to life. Without one, you're dead.

[In his defence, Organization XIII was not the best educational setting for young Nobodies. If it wasn't related to his mission of seeking out and collecting hearts, it wasn't important. Roxas frowns at Reaper, despite him still being shrunk down to a fraction of his size.]

Maybe that's how it is in your world. But in mine, hearts are more than that. They're the key that makes a person whole. And your heart can keep memories etched in it even if your mind forgets them.

[He shakes his head.]

You're right; most people fade away without a heart, or turn into a Heartless. But if a strong-willed person loses their heart... at least, where I'm from, they won't die. They'll become a Nobody.

[In his opinion, it was a matter of 'kids these days', which was totally him leaning into his age. Of course, maybe in single cities were actual planets then that might explain much, but this kid was apparently well traveled.

The fact he was having this conversation with a tiny version didn't bother him at all. He'd seen some weird crap over the years and Deerington had definitely opened up his imagination on what was possible.]

This sounds likes it's going to be going down the path of 'friendship is magic'

[His tone was dry and sarcastic, though he honestly wouldn't be surprised if that's actually what was going to be coming out of this kid's mouth. Rainbows and hugs everywhere... just gross.]

Heartless. Of course [He was taking mental notes anyway.] A Nobody? It sounds like fading would be better than just being a face in the crowd.

[Those words actually do cause Roxas to let out a little snort, a grin forming on his face.]

Well, yeah. I've seen how strong the power of friendship could be. The connection to my friends is why I'm even around at all.

[Be disbelieving all you want, Reaper, the power of friendship is totally a game-breaking power where he's from. Man, imagine if this guy met Sora... Roxas might have to make a mention of this interaction to the brunette boy.]

Heartless, yeah. It's probably a good thing you don't know what they are. [That meant his world hadn't been visited by Darkness, which means his world is relatively safe from possibly being consumed. His words about Nobodies does make the frown return on his face. He doesn't understand the "face in the crowd" statement, but...]

You're right about that; it's not easy, living as a creature not meant to exist. But given the choice, I'd rather exist as a Nobody than be forced to fade away.

[In the end he did end up fading back into Sora's heart, and it was his decision to do it, but that didn't mean he hadn't yearned to live his own life still. But then again, he was a special case among Nobodies.]

{ GAME OPENING LOG }

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