CRISIS ON INFINITE DREAMWIDTHS: EVENT END

[metamods]

AT THE END OF THE WORLD

The sound isn't unlike thunder when the universe begins to crack apart. Loud, thrumming thuds that tear the sky and the fabric of reality. The nexuses are being stomped out, engulfed back into the void one by one.

Characters may be in these nexuses as they're slowly engulfed by the cracks. Some may be saying they're final goodbye's to old friends, new friends, or simply watching as the apocalypse descends on whichever world they're in.

And then, just before they're about to fall into oblivion - they're snatched away.

IN CENTRAL CITY —

Outside The Alliance HQ, Chaos Gate and the Silent Mystic stand with their eyes tightly shut, hands linked together as one. Above you the sky has turned a deep crimson. The crack is a yawning chasm as buildings are torn apart brick by brick, falling into the abyss.

If something isn't done soon then you're all dead.

This world is a nexus and this can't be changed, but it can be pulled from the 'between' it has fallen into, and restored to its proper place. This will require an enormous amount of energy. The mystics bid the gathered to join hands: they ask you to remember their world, the one they left behind and tether this world to it. Your strongest memories may bleed out, giving the people around you a glimpse of who you are, what you were.

The universally displaced are here with you. This is a last mingle opportunity. The comm will remain open so people can continue to play any threads they didn’t get a chance to during the run of the event. They too can join hands and share their memories, but as they are not tied to this dimension, when it’s restored they will either return to their own worlds or the nexuses they left behind.



CONNECTION —

Everything goes dark.

It feels endless, swallowing your sight as well as all sound as it closes in. Slowly, glowing threads begin to appear, tying one person to the next, then to the next, and so on. Only those who are linked to Metaheroes are tied with these golden glowing threads. The threads flow down to their feet and then shoot up towards the sky.

There's a boom, different to the thunderous cracks of before. The sky rushes back into place, day and night speeding by as it hurries to realign itself to the proper date and time. It's dizzying, for a moment, before it begins to feel grounding. Right.

The air feels different. Fresher, somehow. The sky is brighter; the world seems fuller, like it has been allowed to become what it should have been all along. A cheer goes up. The people are elated, relieved to see the sun again.

Players may be troubled should they have ventured into other worlds. They have seen the nexuses that have fallen to ruin, know how they too once felt exactly like this.



THE WORLD CONTINUES TO TURN —

The world has been restored to its proper place. Interdimensional communication is coming through again. The Guilds, exhausted as they were putting fires out across the non-meta cities, are relieved. Perhaps this is finally over.

With the return of interdimensional communication comes the return of interdimensional travel as well. This technology has been used in this world before; it was only with the advent of the recent powerful Confluences that it all went dark. Now that it’s back, the Guilds start to make plans immediately. It will take a little time to organize everything, but once they have a system in place, it shouldn’t be too difficult to locate everyone’s home universes and return them there. They set a tentative date for September 4th to start trying to return everyone home.

That being said, the government is none too happy with any of this. The Guild Systems were put into play by two metahumans who wanted the best for the world, as a means to protect them from those who would do them harm. Years have been spent slowly wrestling control from those two and now there is an opportunity.

Behind the scenes a storm is brewing. If they can spin this to blame the Unaligned then perhaps they have no more need for the Guilds. The Society is a thorn in their side that they’d like to finally be rid of, but they’re essentially untouchable. The Unaligned, however, are flagrantly breaking the law. Constantly putting themselves in the spotlight, making it all too easy to yank the rug out from under the metahuman leaders.

How wonderful for them that these strangers from away have made such a wreck of the trust in the systems that protected the metahumans of this world.

Mechanima is all too aware that things are about to go to hell. The Society is welcoming all metahumans, regardless of moral alignment, to join them. It is heavily encouraged among the rumor mill that the Unaligned should start reconsidering their position.

As the days go on, things begin to change across Meta.

• Excelsior has become vehemently anti-metahuman. While this outrage may pass, they’re passing new AI laws in rapid succession. Limitations on what AI can and can’t inhabit. Limitations on robot bodies, on mechanical prosthetics, on the research that can be done into what gives things the spark of life. Magic is essentially forbidden within the city. Any abilities that can be mistaken as magic are treated as suspect.


• Sunset Falls is worse for wear. Yet the people remain as grateful as ever to the metahumans who stepped in to save them. That gratitude outweighs any fear that they could have caused this - Sunset Falls has disasters all the time that have nothing to do with interdimensional weirdness. They continue to be unbothered by the metas among them.


• Central City, having witnessed all the off-world metas stepping in to save them, is oddly grateful for this - but they haven’t forgotten what happened. The disappeared are among them again and are unharmed despite their sojourn through the universe, but the fact that it happened at all is cause for concern. Confluences are a problem. They want answers, they want solutions.


• Little Love remains untouched and unchanged.

I DREAM A DREAM SO PRETTY —

Two days after the apocalypse is averted, every off-world meta will find a pillow lying on their doorstep. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you live - one of these pillows will find its way to you.

If you’re quick or wary enough, you may be able to catch a glimpse of the being that placed it there: a figure clad in blue robes. They’ll appear seemingly out of nowhere and lay the pillow down before vanishing into dust. Should they happen to notice they’ve been spotted, they’re clearly started, and lay a finger to their lips before departing.

Atop the pillow is a note: an invitation from the Dreamers of the Willow Maiden. You would have undoubtedly heard of this group: they have a presence in this world, though their reputation’s benign. They’re oddballs and weirdos, but ultimately harmless. They believe in the power of a good night’s sleep - literally.

If the note is to be believed, then the Willow Maiden herself has requested an audience with you, and this audience can only be granted in the world of dreams. Should you accept this offer, the note explains, all you need to do is lay your head upon this enchanted pillow. Sleep will come to you quickly.

Your dreams will be extremely vivid. There are recurring themes bleeding through them: your greatest accomplishment juxtaposed with your greatest failure. The moment you could have acted but stayed still. Highschool embarrassments. Falling. Flying. Here in your own dreamscape, you’ve got more control than anywhere else; you feel as though you can do anything. But beware: these dreams grab for you, both the nightmares and the fantasies. It can be easy to lose yourself and forget what exactly is real.

Luckily, the dreams grab for others as well. Sleeping metas may find themselves involuntarily wandering into one anothers’ dreams. Visitors to a dreamscape don’t have any powers outside of what they normally would, but they can reach out to the dream’s host, should they want to.

If no one else arrives, don’t worry. She is patient and waiting, and doesn’t mind that you stumble. Fall too far into the abyss, and she’ll reach out her hand to steady you.




THE WILLOW MAIDEN —

As you find your way out of the haze of your subconscious with uour allies at your side, the Willow Maiden greets you. She is a massive tree nymph, long-limbed and wooden. She is curled against an enormous tree, looking like a statue. At your approach, she lifts her head from the crook of her arm and extends a hand in greeting. Her smile is warm and motherly. You may feel distrust, but that feeling of safety and protection that guided you home radiates from her.

“You from a far away land, come to this world and made its own.” Her wooden lips don’t move, the words echo through your soul itself. “I can do little for you now but issue warning. Danger is waiting in the dawn, in the shine of her sword. You won this battle, your strength and the strength of all those you have touched has saved you… but she is coming.

She is coming.


“My time is short… your words cannot reach me as you are now. Carve yourselves a new future. One in this world and all others. Dream, and in those dreams, you shall become more powerful than even she can stand. My gift is the gift of new life, new lives, new futures… I have shielded you from her gaze until I could no longer bear it and now… I must rest. May the next time we met be true conversation.”

The Willow Maiden lays her head back down on the curve of her arms. Within moments, she’s asleep.

You wake. Not with a start, but as though you’ve been gently roused from a deep and restful sleep. The dreamsharing effect lingers, and can reoccur off and on throughout the month of September, but you will not find your way to the Willow Maiden’s realm again.

IN SUMMARY.

• The fourth wall ends in a near apocalypse. Characters will have a chance to say goodbye while the metaphorical walls are closing in. They will be pulled back from the brink at the last second.


• Through the collective effort of metaenergy, Metaheroes will rejoin the multiverse, tethered to the worlds which playable characters come from.


• As a result, there's tentative optimism that characters will be able to go home
.

• Anti-meta sentiment is growing across Excelsior, and within governing bodies. Government officials will begin looking to blame Unaligned heroes for various crimes and disturbances.


• It's a good time to pick a side. Or don't.


• Amidst all this, The Willow Maiden invites players to Meta's first dream share event. The dreaming effect lingers and characters may find themselves intermittently sharing dreams throughout September.


• However pleasant this is, however cathartic - it doesn't change that things are tense in the waking world. The Willow Maiden's warning will ring in your ears, too: who is coming?

Comments

Mayuko Shiraki | Fruits Basket

[welcome_summer]

Willow Maiden Summons

[Maybe it is the increasing anti-meta sentiment. Or seeing the world being pulled into the cracks of nothingness one brick at a time. Whatever the case, Mayuko's subconscious did not read the Willow Maiden's assignment completely. There are no accomplishments or victories to be seen tonight.

Your current location is a house with a corridor that is open to a courtyard on the side. Its tiled roof matches those you can see looming over the house's high walls. It is difficult to tell what time it is supposed to be, but clouds block the sky and a cold gust blows along the hallway. No other people can be seen. However, an odd set of sounds reach your ears.

The click of nails (or claws) against wood. Rustling, skittering. The crunch of hoof on the stones outside. The house's timbers creak under the weight of... something on the roof. Something massive.

But there! You can hear a human voice from deeper within. It's all my fault. It's all my fault.

((FOR REASONS, please indicate one number from 1 to 6 in your comment!))

Wildcard Dreams: Post-Maiden-Encounter
((Want to try out something different, whether from canon or from her stay in zombie summer camp? Please message me on Plurk at librarydragons.))

2

[a_gaggle_of_ghosties]

[Wherever this was--and just whose head he was in, for that matter--was a complete mystery to Nox. As someone who wasn't native to the planet, much less the same galaxy, virtually everything about it was new and interesting. He could tell at least a few of the ghosts felt the same, and as a rare show of generosity even allowed them to leave the confines of his mind to get a better look at things. Kalatosh and Horak-mul both took him up on the offer, but not before he issued them a silent warning that they would remain tethered to his mind and he would intervene if they tried possessing the mind of whoever it was whose dream they were wandering through.

And while only two of the party were proper ghosts, all three moved just as silently through the house--more out of habit on Nox's part than any actual intention to do so--both to study the unfamiliar design and to discover the origins of whatever was responsible for the strange noises. The Sith's armored robes were more than enough to ward off the cold, though he could do little to prevent them from rustling in the wind and potentially providing an early warning of his presence. Though, given the strange creaks and clawing, that might not pose much of a problem.

Whether those same robes might cause his presence to be mistaken for a hostile one as he moved further into the strange building to seek out its other occupant remained to be seen.]

[welcome_summer]

[The rooms in this house are sparsely decorated, sheltered by wood and paper sliding doors. The furniture is low to the ground and simple, blending into the background. There are few to no tech devices out in sight, and the physical texts seem to be medical instruction. Blazers and trim skirts set out, in subtle colors beyond neutrals-- a professional, but young. Someone learning the craft.

The skittering intensifies as Nox passes by one room. A young man's voice calls out, "Is someone there?" He's trying to hide uncertainty under a polite but assertive tone; no-one is supposed to be here. Especially not strangers.]

[a_gaggle_of_ghosties]

[For a brief moment, he entertained the idea of cloaking himself before investigating further. It was only because he took the time to stop and consider the situation more carefully that he ultimately decided against it: As convincing as it might appear, this wasn't the real world. He was in someone else's dreams and, by extension, inside their mind. There was nothing to guarantee the force cloak would even work properly, and there was a very real chance even attempting it would only make things worse.]

...there is.

[So, 'recklessly forthcoming' it was!]

Where am I? What is this place?

[welcome_summer]

[The room's door is nudged open a crack as the resident takes a look at the strangers. The tip of a large, whiskered rodent snout extends.]

This is-- this is the Sohma family's estate. My family's estate. We don't....

[The snout retreats for a moment on seeing the contingent before him. Sure is a guy in armor and some ghosts! Way above his usual pay grade. But give the young'un some credit, he leans up and plants his paws on the door to push it open further. Better that he deal with this, rather than some of his other family members.]

We don't get many visitors. Who are you? How did you get here, who let you in?

[a_gaggle_of_ghosties]

[Given the size of this estate--something he was quite skeptical about, though he did remind himself that it was entirely possible that wherever this was, one this small could have been perfectly normal--the apparent size of its inhabitants was immediately unusual. The scale was all wrong for anyone this small, but for all he knew they could have been a caretaker of some sort...comment about "my family's estate" notwithstanding. Regardless of who they were, however, they clearly knew more about this place than he did. So there was no reason to be impolite.]

I am Darth Nox...and I don't know how I got here, or who brought me here.

[But since this was a conversation that would undoubtedly go a lot smoother if he didn't have this strange creature outnumbered, he turned his head to each of the ghosts to silently dismiss them. Kalatosh and Horak-mul each disappeared in turn, vanishing in a small flash of purple light and leaving only a few wisps of what appeared to be colored smoke where they'd once stood.]

I don't even know where "here" is, let alone who you are. Could you at least explain that much?

[welcome_summer]

[The estate is the proper size for humanoids; seeing the ghosts vanish, a silver mouse the size of, say, a grown capybara walks out into the hallway. By no means a giant in comparison to Nox, but large enough to be detectable. The mouse settles on his haunches to look up.]

My name is Sohma Yuki. This is part of my family's estate. In Japan, on Earth.

[He scrubs his paws along his snout. This version of Yuki has been traveling, and this seems like someone from another world entirely. Earth's geography might be lost on him. But before he can fret more, he sniffs. Turns his head and sniffs again!]

There is someone else here! Someone from this world. But she shouldn't be here either....

[a_gaggle_of_ghosties]

[There's a slight tilt to his helmet at the mention of "Japan", but it's not something Nox seems intent on bringing up just yet. The more unusual detail is likely that he doesn't appear to find anything at all unusual about a large talking rodent.]

I'm afraid the name isn't familiar. However...

[Confirmation that someone else was actually here was reason enough for him to reach out through the Force to search for any other lifeforms, eventually settling on the one most recognizable as human. He could have very easily gone to them himself, now that he had a general bearing on them, but he still didn't know what the rules of these dreams were in the first place. Surely, it would be best to play it safe, right?]

If someone else is here, don't you think they might be able to better explain what's happened? At the very least, you wouldn't want them wandering the grounds unsupervised, correct?

[welcome_summer]

[Yuki's tail twitches back and forth as he considers Nox's questions. On the one hand, Mayuko is quite knowledgeable. However she came to be here, she would likely know something about how to get out (and take Nox with her). On the other, leading this stranger right to her-- the ghosts were worrisome enough, but no-one wears armor unless they're doing or preventing something. Yuki does not want Mayuko to be hurt, whether her presence here is allowed or not.]

She might not be alone-- she is a friend to several in our family. Some of us are her students. But...

[They would all be eager to send the visitors back to safety. Out of this cursed place. He has to make the call. Yuki sets his front paws back on the ground, his fur starting to bristle.]

I will help you find her. You are protected as a guest, and you in turn protect your hosts and other guests. Will you abide?

[a_gaggle_of_ghosties]

So long as neither turn hostile, that won't be a problem. But should I be attacked, or led into any sort of trap, I will no longer be held to that promise.

[Not that he thought it would come to that, but there was nothing wrong with making it known exactly where the line would be. He'd leave the possible consequences of crossing that line to this person's imagination, but the implication wasn't a particularly subtle one. He was confident the warning would be clearly understood.]

Lead the way.

[welcome_summer]

[The rat nods and heads deeper into the house; the light gradually dims and the chill picks up. Above, the roof continues to creak as whatever-it-is follows their progress.

True to his word, Yuki takes the most straightforward path to Mayuko that he can. Eventually, a tall woman can be seen entering a room from the opposite end of the current corridor, and the memory-dream plays out:

Another woman, pale and drawn, sits on a low bed. Someone had placed a vase full of flowers in an alcove, but petals are falling to the shelf. Drawing her sweater closer, she says, "Ah, Mayu. You... came to see me? I'm sorry, it's been so long since we've seen each other. I must look like such a mess."

Mayuko steps toward the other woman, shoulders tensing. She wasn't expecting to find her friend in this state. "... You know you don't have to worry about that with me. But it really has been... too long. I got worried after not hearing from you in a while. Today I had Shigure sneak me in."

"Have you... seen Hatori?"

"Eh? No, I haven't seen him." Mayuko crouches down beside the woman, facing her.

"Hatori... you know, he hurt his eye." The woman's eyes widen and glaze, and she lifts her hands, gaze settling on them, on something that is no longer there. "And it was... it was because of me."

"Kana," Mayuko starts, but Kana whirls to her, reaching out.

"What should I do," she cries, the anguish clear in her voice. Her hands fist into Mayuko's shirt. "Tell me what I should do! It can't be fixed! And it's all my fault. I was right there, but he-- he got hurt so badly!"

Mayuko's own hands drift upward, covering her mouth. Shigure had no doubt brought her in to see if Kana would respond more favorably to her trusted friend. But Mayuko had not been prepared for this level of trauma. It was too late, it had been sunk in. If only she had known sooner....

"I couldn't protect him! I couldn't--"

And on it goes. All Mayuko can do is hold Kana and try to comfort her. In counterpoint, Mayuko echoes her.

I'm sorry, I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry.

[From the corridor, Yuki turns away. On a quiet world, it's the small-scale tragedies that devastate.]