January Event: As I Lay Me Down

[solravehmods]

 

An uncertain stillness has settled upon the castle since November. Even the shadows seems to be waiting with baited breath for the other shoe to drop. Dark areas still abound all throughout the stone walls and shadows continue to roam those unlit halls, but the light areas seem safe albeit with a tense sort of quiet about them.

The next assault comes not from the front, or behind, or even from the side. The next assault isn't even physical.

It starts off innocently enough. 

You lay down for sleep, curled up in your comfortable beds alone or with a partner. Dreams drift in as always, except you find yourself in unknown territory with faces both familiar and unfamiliar. People that you've met here, spent time with recently or some time ago appear to you in places only known to them. Nothing about the usual oddness of dreams is present in here; there are no fanciful feats denying the laws of physics or jumbled sentences that make no sense. Words are spoken clearly, people respond as would be expected, timelines do not skew or jump about. 

It may take some time before you realize you're not in a dream.

You're a memory. A memory belonging to someone else. Innocuous, terrible, and everything in between, these memories are not your own but those of someone you've become associated with in this castle. Someone who is here right now.

It happens slowly at first. You might not even remain in the memory long enough to see everything from beginning to end right away, but eventually you're fully immersed whenever you sleep. You watch events unfold, a bystander in the hazy past of someone you may not even know that well.

And you know what they say about memory being unreliable. Not everyone is an unbiased story teller of their own life, after all. And not everyone wants these sorts of things to be known. Being in someone else's head is a fairly large invasion of privacy after all. But then, that's the point, isn't it?

So once the events have played out to a point where you're at least passingly familiar with what's going on and what's happened, things begin to change. Little details at first. The placement of an object, the response to a question, a person that was there before suddenly not being present...

Bit by bit the memory becomes different, uncertain, twisted. Something that started as a peaceful birthday party is becoming a murder mystery, with the person who's dreams you're invading as the main culprit. A simple back and forth of question and answer has become the torture of an innocent party, and your memory-giver is the one holding the pliers. 

Worse still, your presence has been noticed in these "dreams", and the person now knows full well that you've been inside their head. They may interact with you directly, or choose to ignore you as they go about their terrible business, their awful acts becoming more and more explicit as the month goes on.

(Or if your character really is a horrible person from the get-go, it could very easily go the other way around, leaving you talking to some one you saw a week ago doing something terrible now standing in a field of flowers looking as peaceful as anything.)

All of this begs the question...

Which was the true memory?

Is this person you thought you knew even a little really something more? Do you question them and try to believe when they plead innocence, or avoid them in paranoid fright? Do you try to take down a potential murderer, or insist that they're not capable of something so awful? 

Can any of this be trusted?

BONUS

Oh, kiddies. You thought you were going to get away with breaking the sarcophagi on purpose, didn't you?

The ones that broke them on purpose (not with the intent to free some one) after the new arrivals were freed, you're going to have to put up with all of the above...

As well as having the shadow of a horned boy following you.

Everywhere.

Including your dreams.

And there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. You turn your head, nothing will be there. You try to attack, it's gone. And no one else but you can see this constant shadow standing right over your shoulder.

Comments

Questions

[solravehmods]

[soundmind]

Okay.

Well.

I could go either way with this, but considering Maka has been nothing but good all around and her life is actually pretty horrible when you think about it (she is literally a child soldier okay, Ohkubo doesn't try to hide this), it's going to be horrible no matter what I do.

Also this is something that has semi-happened in canon! Though it was Maka witnessing a memory of hers that abruptly turned awful because insanity clowns. So, um...come at me?

Ikuri★Rock Shooter

[darkshooter]

Oh, boy. Oh boy oh boy oh boy.

Memories being played with? Actively participating in them? Twisting into lies? This is her old home all over again. Pre-Bastion, that is, when things started going to poo.

On paper, nothing's going to make her terrified that she's ended up back in the Bad Place like having to experience that memory phenomenon again, especially once corruption happens. In practice - it's still very much up to event flow. But I think it can be safely concluded that cannonkid's not gonna like it; she is particularly vulnerable to this sorta thing.

Her past starts with the official BRS OVA, and then things go to poo when her world is infested and those fake memories come into play. (Those players/muses who were always curious about just what went down where Ikki came from and then some? This is for you. |3)


Yeah. She's not gonna like this. It's gonna play with her head awful. 8D If it goes really wrong it might take some work to pull her out of it. (There's potential for both new and old CR to help out.)

Gynoid Support Unit 24 | OC

[robodorable]

Well, S24 here's got some interesting memories to show off.

Without too much detail, the key twist for her, if the mods permit it, will be that both of the memories are real. The 'pure' one will be soon after she first awoke as Gynoid Support Unit 24.

The horrific one will be from the day before that. This'll be the first chance anyone has to encounter Cevilia Matera, the Paladin who was before she was S24. And given that she has spent years sealed within a body and mind that's absolutely loyal to a force that she hates with fury...

Well, it should be nicely terrifying for all involved.

[mrlivingskull]

...Heh. Heh heh. ha ha ha

OH MAN.

This kid. Has so damn much history. I can reference both unwritten things and actual threads.


Escaping from confinement in a terrible place as his very first memory. Wandering the universe and other dimensions as a shade without substance. The rise and fall of VDR. His relationship with the daughter unit.

This could turn. So bad in many ways. Especially since his past ain't free from mistakes, and some of them were mistakes of choice: poor judgment, moments of weakness, so on. Depending on the playout some CR could even turn sour.

...Though I'm not entirely sure why, incidentally, I've found myself trying to avoid that. :'D Maybe it's bad form to admit it, but the truth's there. (I think maybe because I considered the fall-of-VDR to be the "descent into hell" part of the past and I've been looking for a "rise of redemption" sort of angle instead: a conclusion / good end sorta road rather than just further descent. Short-term sours could be okay as long as they weren't the final say.

STILL. Point remains that just like with Ikki, there's a good few choice horrible things to witness - and there's good things too. Lots and lots of history to choose from. And plenty of potential for playing with it, what's more.


Of note, Saul's past is a very big Thing for him; it's a pivotal part of his character. If he becomes aware that anyone's actually seeing this stuff, he'll naturally try to "set them straight," so to speak, if it all starts wandering off-course. Even after the event's over, he'll try tellin' what he believes is the whole truth to people who witnessed. Whether or not they believe him is another matter. BD

But yeah, that's those thoughts. Positive is what I'd hope for in the end, rather than lasting negative, but short-term negative could be cool if it weren't fixed to last.

[doubleringuns]

...Now, Rin here. She hails from the same setting Saul does. And she was there to witness - and suffer - certain of the Things he's already mentioned IC. Certain bits of her past are gonna be tied with his, simply because she was in the same place at the wrong? time. |D

It might not be hard to invent some stuff whole cloth for the event, like times with her siblings and everything. But because of their significance, it's likely she'll remember specific events from the shared setting. (And like with Saul, it'd be easy enough to use actual threads.)

[former_endboss]

Oh boy... Which of Mir's memories do you want to experience? Years of first abandonment and then torture and abuse? Budding first love and horrifed terror as the man she has latched onto is gunned down before her eyes? Her final dedication to the genocide of humanity? Her imprisonment, her escape attempts, her all too brief success?

Or maybe some pleasant memories instead. She does have a new boyfriend now.

[souldeterminant]

Ahaha, well. Frisk here would be a bit of a ride. Their memories are all over the place - not only because they're a limited time traveler who has relived a certain portion of their life multiple times, but because they've behaved in completely different ways depending on the timeline.

The memory of exploring a beautiful underground kingdom, forming friendships with every monster they come across? That one's real.

The next part, of going through the exact same world, coldly striking each monster down with nothing but the knife in their hand? That's also real.

Frisk's full memory would be a repeat of several shorter ones; to an outside observer, each one more inconsistent from the last. Already totally unreliable. The biggest discrepancy the event may add is the fact that the person going through the Underground isn't always Frisk - it might be someone who looks a little different. Someone who has shown up several times earlier in the memory, never in the best light. Maybe that person is now the one laughing with their new friends. Maybe in the peaceful timelines, Frisk is barely there at all; as much of an observer as you.

Of course, if it reduces headaches, said observer could simply be locked into seeing only one of those timelines... with the same impostor issues, more or less.

[seaduke]

I mostly have a short main memory for Duke here.
Because there's no way meeting your best friend to be could turn into something terrible, right.
This will also cheerfully out him as a monster-like creature hanging out in human-like form.


If we want to go a MANY OPTIONS MANY PEOPLE route, I can pull up some more canon things. Nothing like attempted extinction events, yep.

[eldindragon]

Volga here will be one of those fun ones where Both extremes are going to be real.

Generally going to involve some sort of fighting... And then probably some more when he realizes someone is in his head. Because uh.. Last time someone messed with his brain

Have fun with the violent dragon. /thumbs up

[justribbing]

...welp.

Sans sleeps a lot, a hell of a lot, so expect me to hit up a bunch of you! There's no pressure to say yes, I'm brand new and I acknowledge there's more significant CR that could use this hook more. That said, I'm open like 7-eleven. BRING IT.

As for Sans's dreams, well. This heads into SPOILER HEAVY territory so I'm not terribly comfortable babbling about it here, but hit me up with a comment and I'll cheerfully PM you (or AIM if that's easier, I'm always available at dawnwards) to talk your ear off about it.

Bad enough dudes might face judgment if their dreams are compelling enough, but Sans is also crazy observant.

It would mean the world to me if people interested in RPing with Sans check out and respond to this permissions page. Let me know if it's okay! Otherwise I feel like a big cheeseball because his ability to pick up on unnaturally tiny details about a person is so invasive, but it's gonna come in real handy here. Thanks and I really look forward to playing with you guys!

[justribbing]

oh HELL yes.

do your worst, Sans is likely to pick up straight off when things change. He's, uh, detail-oriented. you could say he's especially good at picking up on inconsistencies, like he's used to observing this stuff before or something! Gosh. Because Saul's de-powered, even if the dreams make him out to be an active threat against this timeline/reality or whatver, being a warper and all, Saul is unlikely to have a bad time get faced with consequences from Sans, but there will doubtlessly be some SERIOUS TALKS.

Re: Ikuri★Rock Shooter

[justribbing]

OH geez.

I won't lie, I'm as enticed about the idea of helping the kid sort themselves out after all this as much as I am to have Sans witness the dreams personally. And seeing a different aspect that isn't 'stares at' will be interesting (it's hard to tell if it will be beneficial or not, you know how it goes).

Anyway y-yeah, super new but???

[justribbing]

AAAAYYYY I just want Sans to learn more about Maka, okay.

The great thing here is I already know the source material PRETTY WELL which lets me confidently say BRING IT ON DO YOUR WORST etc., whatever you'd like Sans to react to.

[justribbing]

( nothing about this could possibly go wrong. )

[scary_music]

sob Ikuri-chan.

Ibuki will help!!! Somehow...

[scary_music]

For all her silliness and happy go lucky demeanor... Ibuki has a surprisingly dark past.

If anybody wants to learn more about Ibuki's stuff that she's not... very willing to talk about, this would probably be a good time to do that? Even her pre-dark past events are kind of sad. Which I had to headcanon because she barely even talks about her past much in her source game

[soundmind]

So I guess you could say




we're in for a bad time.


But yeah I'm pretty sure I've got my idea set in stone now so all that's left to do is look forward to a 7 year old crying a lot.

[justribbing]

more like in for a bed time lmao

But yessss. And then I gotta figure out what nonsense Maka gets to see'

[daughterofursa]

Oh boy.

Those familiar with Zuko know that she's already a character who has done bad things in the past. This being a good person thing is kind of new. So.. even just presenting her memories as-is could give a person plenty of reasons to mistrust her, and she wouldn't even deny that they happened.

But I think I'm still going to mess with them and make it worse. Just mulling over exactly how.

Zuko already suffers from pretty bad nightmares, so the worst part of this for her is actually going to be who gets to witness her at her worst. Personally I'd be most interested in people who trust her being involved, though I am 100% down for the many people (possibly multiple dreams) route.

[cless]

Welp... Cless is already paranoid, wary enough (for the moment). Although this should be fun, and that's all I know what to say here XD

[justribbing]

Aw ye. I'm excited for what we talked about.

[daughterofursa]

Ibuki's hinted at stuff around Zuko but she's too dense to have picked up on it. Soo.... care for a Zuko?

[mamaterasu]

OH BOY, WELP. Ammy here tends to be a pretty lazy wolf. She tends to do a lot of sleeping and napping when she can, so people may see a white fluffball invading their dreams here and there. Hope you don't mind her trying to be the hero Gotham your dream needs, because she very well will try, no questions asked.

In regards to Ammy's dreams, I can go either way - characters can enjoy the beauty and splendor of a beautiful and colorful, Japanese world filled with cherry blossoms, lush green landscapes, and the glory of the rising sun. Amaterasu's world is stunning to look at, so if you want some quiet zen to relax to, just let me know.

On the other end of the spectrum however, Ammy's world is rife with demons, monsters, and all manner of spooks. During the latter half of the game, it gets insanely dark and pretty freaking gruesome. There is a lot of death, suffering, and general bad times had. The twist in these dreams will be that the cause of these awful events will be the white wolf herself, probably, and I've already got a few ideas picked out. Again, if you want your character to have a glimpse of some, uh...dark happenings let me know.

You can PM this journal, or hit me up on Plurk (MelonFlavored) or AIM at CatchinStardrops. I'M OPEN TO WHATEVER.

Ichi's characters!

[eatmybazooka]

Ryuji - Has lived a fairly "normal" life for being a half demon. That being said he may have dreams about what happened in Kyoto(ie fighting the Impure King with Rin to keep his family safe) as well as just some memories of his childhood. Growing up in the "cursed temple" makes it hard to live in a small area. People weren't the nicest to them.

Signless - NIghtmares of his "trial" and execution. Good memories about his family and some of the nights they would share around the fire. But through all of his dreams there is a looming darkness that seems to threaten his very life. On top of that there are other dreams....dreams that don't fit with him. Dreams where there are younger trolls all living in peace. No fighting over blood color, everyone is equal. What world is this and how can Signless see it? Well it comes with being a Seer of Blood. What he is seeing is his "pre-scratch" self, Kankri, along with all of his friends.

Shin - There is only one nightmare this guys having. And it's of a familiar girl disappearing before his eyes. He hates the idea of loosing Iria and even more so he hates the idea that it could be his fault. He blames himself for her getting hurt so long ago, even if they confirmed it wasn't completely his fault. Still. Even if the dream isn't of her falling off a cliff, just disappearing is bad enough for him. Especially when he can't get to her to stop it.

Pogue - Nightmares everywhere. His life in Box was one giant nightmare. Also the very ideas of spiders freaks him outTHANKS CHASE, YOU DICK!. There aren't many happy memories for him. Mostly anything that has to do with spiders will be things like Caleb and the others being over run by then or something of that sort. Also...he has horrible nightmares about killing people, namely Tyler.

Max - ....have you read his history? No? Well here have fun with that. His dreams are filled with nothing but that. Adults laughing and jeering as a bunch of kids fight and kill each other.