imaginarymods: (Universe)
Imaginary Island Mods ([personal profile] imaginarymods) wrote in [community profile] imaginarynetwork2020-10-16 10:12 pm
Entry tags:

new message from user: UN

[A window pops up on everyone's bracers, forcefully installing the System Update that Sans and Sayori developed.

After it's finished loading, the messaging system pops back up, and a new message arrives. It opens without prompting, and a holographic figure projects onto the ground in front of everyone using a bracer.

The hologram is of what appears to be just a regular guy, some ambiguous schmuck. He's not particularly tall looking, wears a pair of big, black-framed glasses, his hair is mousey brown and trimmed short, and he doesn't even wear Faerun clothes.

He stands straight and confident with a smile on his face and his hands behind his back as he addresses the Reclaimers as if looking each of them in the eye.]


Hey! Hi! Hello there. Uh, wow, I gotta say, I wasn't expecting you to get through to me this way, but here we are!

That was pretty amazing.

Well, it's nice to finally meet you face to face! Or... face-to-hologram-projection-of-a-physical-manifestation. Hey! I'm your universe. That's right, the one you're living in right now! The one with uh, Faerun, and all the little folks running around there in places like Thay and Vista Virs.

You might know me as the Story. Some friends of mine like to call me Greg. It's kind of a little joke.

Uh, anyway, I know you're wondering why this conversation is so one-sided, and I'll try to field some questions at the end, but we kinda gotta make this quick, so, storytime! We've got— [he checks his wrist, which definitely does not have a watch.] — Just enough time for that.

Once upon a time, a small group of individuals got pulled throughout time and space, trying to fend off a pretty spooky-lookin' calamity. I'm talkin' end-of-all-worlds big. But saving worlds isn't easy, and more and more folks got pulled into a story and a struggle that was never theirs in the first place.

Those individuals found common ground and worked together to try and stop the calamity, and to reverse the damage it had done.

But despite their best efforts, it looked like they were destined to lose. Though they fought as hard as they could, a cult that sought to stop them from the beginning thwarted their plans and all of a sudden, magic, the hope they'd relied on all along, was snuffed out.

Cut off from magic and cut off from the planes, the heroes turned to each other and gave each other everything they had. They exchanged gifts of weapons, trinkets, armor; all in the effort of strengthening each other against the coming hardships.

As the nights grew colder, the calamity came upon them from the inside. The cult had found a way to plant a seed of doubt in their leader, and that doubt in herself consumed her, threatening to combine with the calamity that already chased the heroes.

None of them were counting on the fact that those heroes had made quite a few friends, notably detective Angus McDonald, a little boy of a particular kind. Those heroes were so kind to him, he'd do anything for them— even make a wish that could have been the end of him.

And so he did. He made a wish on a book that had captured a Relic's light, and that wish met up with all the other wishes those heroes made. Because you see, there's magic in hope. There's magic in love. And there's magic in a wish; Angus the dragon's wish; Lucretia, the cursed crewmate's wish; and yours, the wishes of stolen heroes. When the Relic amplified those wishes, I woke up.

[The hologram man grins even wider.]

I heard it.


I heard the hope in his voice and in yours and it reminded me of something really, really important.


It reminded me... that I really don't want to get eaten!

[The hologram man laughs, eyes crinkling behind his comical specs.]

I don't wanna end!

But see, the thing is, I'm just the story. I can't do anything myself. I had to figure out a way to get you guys all your power back. I realized that when Lucretia brought you here, pieces of your universes came with you. Those pieces became a part of me, including all of the magic that existed in you. With that magic, I was able to stitch the Weave back together.

In other words, we were able to fix the very fabric of magic's existence because of the magic that existed in you.

So I gave us more time by changing what time meant and brought you all here. If I stretched out time, it meant I could not only fix magic, but also take away Angus's entire memory of the thrall of the relic. I just... kind of took your memories of Candlenights, too.

Hey, uh, sorry, Angus, by the way.

The only problem with the whole idea was that in scanning some of the parts of your home, I downloaded parts that were eaten by the Hunger. They became like... vacant information, somehow, and the Islanders here called them "The Cursed." Since all those Hunger-copies really knew was searching for those Relics, they all gathered around the north side of the island, around the Relic that Angus used.

Now, I know that this still probably all seems like a lot of things that weren't your fault, but they sure are our problem. And like I said, I don't wanna get eaten. I'm sure none of you do either.

But I can't stop the Hunger without you.

You are the only ones that can turn this whole thing around. You are the little stars in my skies, the seams in the fabric that sews all your worlds together. You... are everything that makes me me, and I'm everything you bring.

Without you, I'm just... one big swath of space, a page that has yet to be written on.

So... are you ready to take the first step to stopping the Hunger?


((Greg will be open to receive tags (and answer questions) on this post/threadjack until Monday, but not all replies to this post are guaranteed to receive a response from him. You may use this post to speak amongst yourselves as usual, and may even be lucky enough to get responses from other NPCs!

On Monday evening, we will move forward with the CTA portion, starting with signups!))
hxppythxughts: (excitement♥ I frantically pull them)

[personal profile] hxppythxughts 2020-10-17 08:04 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh my God.

For a moment, Sayori looks amazed at him conjuring the emoji. And thinks that it would be awesome if she could do that too.

And then. She remembers.

She has magic.

She channels it through her laughter and a little point at her own head; with Prestidigitation, she too conjures up a laughing emoji (*≧▽≦)ノシ)) in front of her face. This is so unnecessary. She's already laughing in the real life. Why are they like this???

For that matter, she is laughing, even though this doesn't fucking explain the joke at all. It's still funny! And his laugh is infectious!]
Yeah, yeah, nobody wants to be that guy!

[what does that MEAN]

You do kinda look like a Greg so I guess it worked out, huh?

[what does that mean]
motherfucking_ghost: (let me explain you a thing)

[personal profile] motherfucking_ghost 2020-10-17 11:47 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, that first part there, that sounds like someone going insane.

No offense. For once.

The last part is wooooow, gee, y'know, I don't think anyone here in this entire storybook ever thought about working together before! What a brand new fucking concept! Glad I had a sentient story-slash-universe suggest working together to not die! Never would've occurred to me.
motherfucking_ghost: (between not listening and not caring)

[personal profile] motherfucking_ghost 2020-10-17 11:59 am (UTC)(link)
Things usually happen without me liking it. That's called my life.

So, yeah, newsflash, I don't remember any of this shit? I washed up on a beach and found out I have magic powers like I'm a wizard. [Sorcerer.] Some depressed lady who I guess ran some sort of weirdo organization did some dark wacky depression magic and turned herself into a prickly mass of thorns, cuz she's goth, I guess, and Beef BigMac threw everyone in a book to. Save us from the depression magic. Somehow. So Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way's in a volcano, the book's in some pretty sinister-looking coral, there's an umbrella?

An umbrella with a person inside it, man, I don't even know, but sure, why not that. If my weapons start flying around and talking to me cuz they're soul possessed, I'm walking into the ocean and staying there, end of story.

And some bad evil juju called the Hunger is happening. Something something bad, something something we're the only ones, for somefuck reason, who can stop the bad. Is that enough dots for you?
korekara: (DAMMIT I TOUCHED A FUCKING GINGER)

un: usmusicstart | voice

[personal profile] korekara 2020-10-17 12:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[ ... because even capslock can't quite express the full force of Honoka's astonishment here. ]

Whaaaaaaattt?! How can you be the whole universe? You're just a guy!

[ do NOT be so rude to universe greg young lady ]
aceso: (084)

[personal profile] aceso 2020-10-17 03:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Right. I'm sure you realize just how completely confusing this whole thing is for all of us. I'm not sure where we're even supposed to begin.
aceso: (082)

[personal profile] aceso 2020-10-17 03:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She swims out to the bar stool and hops up, giving him a long look. ]

Well. Here's to us either figuring this out and saving the universe, or the other result.

[ She's just going to lick her hand and get to pouring the salt. ]
ribticklers: (108)

un: sans; text

[personal profile] ribticklers 2020-10-17 03:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[So, Sans doesn't like that last part at all. He doesn't remember why, but he does know just reading it made his head hurt. Luckily, since much like Sayori he is just standing around in KV's lab texting, he has a great poker face.]

any idea about what made that last part happen?
theoretically
ribticklers: (045)

[personal profile] ribticklers 2020-10-17 05:16 pm (UTC)(link)
[False memories exist, of course, but everyone here, even just the ones who remember, is way too uncoordinated to have created the same false memory. Greg said he changed what time meant. That could be the focal point, if there is one. Going forward and then snapping back. At the least it's-- (a massive anomaly in the timespace continuum.)]

well
i guess if it all reset back to candlenights and we ended up here
it doesn't really matter


[Yeah.]
spaghettimonster: (OH MY GOD WHAT)

un: PAPYRUS | voice

[personal profile] spaghettimonster 2020-10-17 05:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Angus... the boy detective? The very human-looking detective?

[Listen, Greg, you may not know what to tell everybody, but it's clear you're holding onto a couple pieces of information that are news to the people listening. And yet, something about this sounds so familiar. Papyrus wracks his memory for a moment, trying to think of significant moments of foreshadowing for this reveal, and finally gasps:]

Was Angus the weredragon all along???
spaghettimonster: (I'M FINE!)

[personal profile] spaghettimonster 2020-10-17 05:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[A good and relatable wish if true, Angus, he'll have to commend the boy detective for that later. But for now, to more - important? - matters.]

Can you tell me... is it a picture book??? Because I have so many selfies. I don't know what to do with them all.

[Sans is not the only skeleton who is, on occasion, allergic to anything resembling alarming or depressing truths.

And while hearing that the narrative of their lives is rooting for them and here to help them to a happy ending... Something about this feels not so good. Maybe even in a familiar way. Deja vu about deja vu...]
unrecovered: (Face: You've got to be kidding me)

[personal profile] unrecovered 2020-10-17 05:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[Wash startles when he hears that. His memories past Candlenights might be from another version of this universe, but he already knows that some of them are still accurate - no reason not to run with that.]

There's another fucking voidfish, isn't there. The baby.

[They've all been inoculated; why else would they be hearing that static?]
motherfucking_ghost: (hrmmmmm)

[personal profile] motherfucking_ghost 2020-10-17 05:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh. Yeah, the stalker vending machine was real insistent on Goop Soda being everyone's first drink of choice. Didn't shotgun blast me in the face with memories of a Hungry Hungry Hippo or anything though.

Hm. Am I right in assuming we can't just tell people that Galactus is coming? Like, even if we weren't all stuck in a storybook. Even if it's a nice one.

[The less he comments on friends the better.]
unrecovered: (Face: Uh-huh)

Private to Sans

[personal profile] unrecovered 2020-10-17 05:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[He doesn't know exactly what Sans is thinking, but he knows enough to know that this might be hitting on some...bad memories.]

[That Sans may or may not even have at this moment. Great.]


You may not want to go down that rabbit hole.
ribticklers: (017)

private to Wash; 1/2

[personal profile] ribticklers 2020-10-17 05:50 pm (UTC)(link)
hard to know what's what when there's a whole warren to deal with

[But this particular rabbit hole is clearly something Wash knows about. Okay, so did he tell Wash something, or is this something that happened while they were doing bureau work? Or is it both? Sans is pressing at the edges of his available memories in all directions.]
ribticklers: (113)

2/3 I'm a liar

[personal profile] ribticklers 2020-10-17 05:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[Then one of the walls gives way.]

you
I told you
something
ribticklers: (106)

3/3

[personal profile] ribticklers 2020-10-17 05:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[He can't remember what that something was, but--Wait. Wash. He knows Wash.]

oh
sup wash
guess i'm late


[Someone else might say sorry for that. But not Sans.]
ribticklers: (107)

[personal profile] ribticklers 2020-10-17 05:56 pm (UTC)(link)
oh i definitely will

[He might just show them this conversation, actually.]

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