imaginarymods: (Universe)
Imaginary Island Mods ([personal profile] imaginarymods) wrote in [community profile] imaginarynetwork2020-10-16 10:12 pm
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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!))
aceso: (080)

[personal profile] aceso 2020-10-17 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
[ It's a lot a lot. And this is knowing that they were already doing big things by hunting down relics and trying to stop the hunger. This is just... the fate of everything. But, whoops, she's supposed to be bottling that shit right up in her head, isn't she? ]

Mm, I'm gonna need salt and a lime wedge for that.
unrecovered: (Face: Uh-huh)

[personal profile] unrecovered 2020-10-17 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
We're on a tropical island. I'm sure we can find those.

[They're in a book, and a physical manifestation of the narrative causality that runs his life - and literally everything else in this dimension, evidently - is talking to them. Because it does not want to get eaten.]

[Drinking helps the batshit insane concepts go down easier, sometimes.]
aceso: (086)

[personal profile] aceso 2020-10-17 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
Wanna head over to the bar then?

[ No one likes to drink alone when faced with the fate of the universe. ]
unrecovered: (Face: Uh-huh)

-> Action

[personal profile] unrecovered 2020-10-17 06:17 am (UTC)(link)
Absolutely.

[He's close to the bar, and he'll likely already be there by the time she arrives. There's a line of tequila shots, a salt shaker, and a plate of lime wedges...and a margarita, because he's not completely insane.]
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. ]
unrecovered: (Face: Uh-huh)

[personal profile] unrecovered 2020-10-19 04:43 am (UTC)(link)
[He's already salted; it pays to be the first one there.]

Fuck the other result; here's to saving the universe. All of them, not just Greg.

[He picks up one of the shots and toasts her with it.]
aceso: (082)

[personal profile] aceso 2020-10-19 04:21 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She toasts back, licks, drinks, and sucks the lime. And then shakes her head at the still awful taste. ]

Yikes. Worse than I remember.

[ Or maybe that's just the impending doom looming overhead that's affecting her palette. ]

When do you think we'll be ready to start?
unrecovered: (Face: Like you're on the Office)

[personal profile] unrecovered 2020-10-20 07:48 am (UTC)(link)
[Lick, slam, lime. It's honestly pretty smooth, given the grade of tequila he's used to. He snorts and laughs at Christine's comment.]

Then why did you agree to it?

[Still, he scoots the margarita towards her. He'd ordered it for a reason.]

Tomorrow? Day after? We don't exactly have a lot of time, and half of us are still missing memories - it's not going to be easy either way.
aceso: (086)

[personal profile] aceso 2020-10-20 05:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Well. [ She sniffs primly. ] Maybe I thought it was a nice excuse to see you.

[ A guy suggests tequila and she's gonna say no? ]
unrecovered: (Face: That canary was fucking delicious)

[personal profile] unrecovered 2020-10-20 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
I meant the tequila, not the drinking.

[He smirks.]

And you don't need an excuse for that.
aceso: (087)

[personal profile] aceso 2020-10-21 01:10 am (UTC)(link)
[ She shrugs. ]

I sorta felt like I did. Just with everything hitting us all at once like this. I don't know what parts of the island we'll be on in a few days and it's nice to spend time with a level headed person.

[ It probably goes without saying that the people here are very much chaotic. ]
unrecovered: (Face: Uh-huh)

[personal profile] unrecovered 2020-10-27 06:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, for future reference, you don't need an excuse to hang out with me. You can just...show up.

[Live with the Reds and Blues long enough and you get used to a zero preamble way of life.]

And if I'm your bar for levelheadedness, then we are in trouble.

[Never mind that he's one of the few with all of his memories intact, and any leadership experience when their leadership is the worst kind of MIA-]

[...ah, fuck, they're in trouble, aren't they.]

[He takes another shot.]
aceso: (082)

[personal profile] aceso 2020-11-01 02:20 am (UTC)(link)
Don't sell yourself short.

[ She eyes him taking that second shot and chooses to stick with the margarita for now. No sense having a hangover when they have Shit to Do. ]

I'm not sure what happens after this. When everything's said and done. If we stop the Hunger and get our worlds back, then we can't hang out whenever we want.