[popdrop] H3: Touko and Raijuu

[warpweft]

[The first thing you notice is how dark it is. It’s really, really stinkin’ dark. You can’t see anything. Even if you naturally have the ability to see in the dark, well, not anymore. Which may be the second thing you notice - any powers you have, any magic is gone. Silenced. You can’t feel it, similarly to when you’re in the theme park, with an additional sense of anxiety and loss surrounding the inability to tap into it. Even a heightened sense of emotion won’t bring them back, like it might in the theme park. If you have other powers of some kind, enhanced physical capabilities or the like, they’re either gone or significantly reduced as well. You feel extremely normal and it doesn’t feel good.]

[Whether you stay still or stumble along in the dark, at least it’s not too long. You eventually catch notice of something illuminating the darkness. You find yourself drawn to it. It's a small spherical glass object. Near the edges, it's black, but bits of purple and violet appear, gradually brightening and swirling together in a spiral shape at the center. The spiral at the center is bright enough to bathe you and the surroundings in a soft violet light. As you get closer, you can feel voices coming from the sphere. You can’t tell what they’re saying, but maybe if you were closer. You feel a deep desire in your stomach to just…reach out….]

What are you doing?

[The voice, a woman’s voice, comes from behind you. You didn’t hear anybody approaching, but you’re immediately filled with an intense sense of foreboding. You turn and look, but you can’t see anything. The darkness is once again overpowering, the violet glow from the object next to you being the only thing that isn’t swallowed up by it. All you can make out in the darkness is what may be someone’s face and…two eyes. With nothing in them. Pitch-black.]

You touched the Heart…

You touched MY Heart!?

[There’s a lot of anger and it’s not making that sense of foreboding go away. The darkness and the person(?) inside it advance towards you, slowly engulfing the violet glow around you. Just when you’re thinking you’re gonna have to decide between fight or flight, here — something moves.

Towards you.

You feel something punch into your chest and before you know it, you’re on the ground, searing pain running through your upper body. A few things briefly pass through your senses. You hear a loud scream. If you tilt your head up, you can see a long black spike…embedded in your own chest. And you can taste… …yup. That’s your own blood.

That’s about as far as you get before consciousness leaves you.]

Comments

RULES

[voidhearts]

- The goals of the Heart are to strengthen your Voidheart, find Hex’s treasures and discover the True Heart.
- Gameplay is going to consist of exploring areas, collecting items, viewing and sharing memories and talking to NPCs. The main means of progression is going to be by collecting items from one area and showing them to NPCs to unlock new parts of an area, new items, new memories and Infusions to strengthen your Voidheart.
- Powers are initially off, but may be turned back on at some point!
- All areas can be reached from the very beginning of the Heart through the hub area, the Spiraling Sea, but some will have less going on than others initially and will need an item brought from somewhere
- Items have both broad and specific applications. Some items won’t mean much of anything to an NPC, but will still get some kind of comment from them that may be useful. Some items just by way of representing a particular character can get a reaction from multiple NPCs that further opens up an area. Some items have extremely specific, personal meaning to one particular NPC. The latter type of item usually takes more effort to get and will have a bigger payoff.
- You can say whatever you want to an NPC, even attack them or grab ‘em and plant a smooch on ‘em. There will also be guided options to present an item in your inventory that may be relevant to that NPC. If an item isn’t listed but you’d like to see the NPC’s reaction to it anyway, feel free to offer it and see what happens! There’s no limits to what you can do with an NPC, although they may look at you a little weird if you shove the same plate of chicken in their face five times in a row.
- NPCs can be made hostile and once made hostile will uniformly try to whup your ass, but for most of them (most of them) you have to be really trying to piss them off that much. If an NPC gets mad enough to start chasing you around the Heart, you’ll have to either fight them or find someone or something to calm them down before you can continue progressing.

- Tip: If you’re feeling stuck at any point, look for some food! Somebody, somewhere in the Heart is very hungry and will gladly give advice to anybody that brings them food.

IC CONTACT

[voidhearts]

[Do you want to contact another player in the Heart that’s in another area? Focus on them deeply and your Voidhearts will be connected, allowing you to talk!

[ugly_split_ends]

....mggggh! Get out of my head!

To: Hak

[ugly_split_ends]

Went Northwest. Hex' insecurities about being a hick seem to be there.

Anyway, moving right along. Got a ghost mug out of the deal.

Re: To: Hak

[thedarkdragon]

[How the hell??? Whatever at least he’s not alone.]

Great. I got a doll and an angry grandma who is trying to kill me!

INTRO

[voidhearts]

…

…

[CH-THUNK]

[You feel a jolt run through your entire body, jarring you awake and making you take in a sudden, deep breath and sit up straight. Immediately followed by falling back down. You feel a sensation similar to floating in water. Looking up at the sky above you, it’s dark. There’s almost no stars that you can see and no sun or moon or anything up there, but, you still don’t have any trouble seeing anything. Beneath you is a vast ocean of…space. You can see stars, mostly purple and violet, but some in other colors, even a few bright white drifting through the ocean around you. Most of the light illuminating the area comes from a lightly swirling vortex at the center. You can move, bobbing lightly in the space around you, if you wish, it seems similar to water, without the part where it makes you wet. The pain in your chest may be gradually dulling away but it’s definitely still there, though, so you may wanna wait a few minutes to move too much.]

’Please try not to move too much. I’m almost done.

[Someone else is there with you. It’s. ]

Re: INTRO

[voidhearts]

[Oh. It’s. A vaguely humanoid shaped blob of darkness with no features except two big yellow eyes. It had a hand (its digits ending in fairly sharp claw-like appendages) extended towards your chest, which it pulls back if you start to move. Your chest is currently…uncovered. Whatever you were wearing is either opened up or outright discarded and floating in a small pile next to you. And where you were struck in the chest earlier has been covered up with a small object, a sphere with a glass shell and lights swirling in a spiral shape near the center. It’s similar to the one you saw before, but different. The lights inside are of a different color, perhaps your team’s color, perhaps a color significant to you for some other reason. Whatever it is and whatever color it is, the sphere is part of your body, now. It doesn’t hurt and its presence seems to be what’s slowly dulling the pain in, well, most of the rest of your body.]

’I imagine you have questions.’

[ugly_split_ends]

[Fukawa blinks... the last thing she remembers being knocked down? And she was still down... that meant Genocider Shou hadn't had the chance to come out, yet.

...Wait a minute.]

P-Pervert! You were opening my shirt to... do things to me!

THE SPIRALING SEA

[voidhearts]

[You stand in a vast ocean of space that stretches in every direction. The sky above is dark, but lights in a variety of colors, mostly violet, shine beneath you. You can swim in the space, or with some focus, stand on it.

Cornelius, the Void being who revived you, is a short distance away and will speak to you if need be.

You also have a craft, given to you by Cornelius, that you can use to navigate the space and explore other areas of the Heart.

There are seven clusters of light that you can explore, each one a different direction from the center of the ocean.

There are also waves in the distance. If you're not sure where to go...you can always catch a wave. Maybe it'll take you on the right track. Or maybe it'll dump you somewhere completely random.]

North: The Spiraling Sea (you are here)
Northeast: ???
Northwest: ???
East: ???
West: ???
Southeast: ???
Southwest: ???
South: ???

[ugly_split_ends]

[...Northwest?]

[voidhearts]

[Your craft dips into the light and a few seconds later, you're taken away to somewhere new...]

Re: THE SPIRALING SEA

[thedarkdragon]

[South!]

Re: THE SPIRALING SEA

[voidhearts]

[Your craft dips into the light and a few seconds later, you're taken away to somewhere new...]

RAIJUU

[voidhearts]

[Your craft bursts back into the Spiraling Sea. Unfortunately, Lillith is just a short distance behind you and appears to still want to beat the living daylights out of you. She's quickly intercepted by Cornelius, who grabs her claw before it can rip you to shreds. He looks back at you as he holds her off.]

'Go. North. West.'

[He punches her in the face to try and knock her away. She shrieks bloody murder.]

Re: RAIJUU

[thedarkdragon]

[He nods and immediately runs in that direction without hesitation. He wonders if he should have stayed to help.]

HEARTHSIDE

[voidhearts]

Oh, good morning! You might want to park yourself over there or you’re going to get a ticket.

[The mid-day sun is shining down on you. It’s a beautiful Spring day and your craft has come to a stop in the middle of the street. Somebody very helpfully points out a parking spot on the side. Hope you know how to parallel park this thing.]

[A look around shows that you’ve landed in what appears to be a small village in the English countryside. It’s kinda hilly. At the bottom of the hill (where you are currently), there’s a number of shops and businesses and whatnot. Then a bridge over a small lake that leads into the hills, where most of the houses seem to be. It’s a pretty cute little place.]

Very good, then, let’s move it along, here, you’re blocking traffic.

[A police officer gives your craft a couple light taps. Luckily, if you get out, the craft will just disappear until you need it again anyway. Fortunately enough…nobody seems that bothered by you just showing up or whatever strange appearance you may or may not have.]

[ugly_split_ends]

Oh, thank God, some fucking light for a change.

[She flinches at the taps.]

H-Hey! D-Don't rush me...

[She'll climb out.]

[voidhearts]

Well, if y'don't wanna be rushed, don't be blockin' traffic!

[The craft immediately disappears, clearing up the road. Somebody waves at you as they drive by.]

You don't look like you're from around here, Miss. You got business, here?

Re: HEARTHSIDE

[thedarkdragon]

[He. Doesn’t know how to drive a car. It’s fine.]

Uh. Right. Where is this place?

[Far away from crazy grandma at least.]

THE BLACK VAULT

[voidhearts]

[Oh, no.]

[You’ve been here before.]

[The second your feet touch the stone floor, you can instantly remember it. The fear. The foreboding. The darkness. And the… …your chest twitches in pain. If you focus, you can keep the feelings of fear and anxiety at bay - they’re not yours. They’re coming from this place, not your own heart. Focus on that and you’ll be…fine-ish, but if you let your guard down, it won’t take long before it feels like the walls of this stone bunker are closing in on you. It really doesn’t help that you still can’t see anything.]

[If you stumble around, you’ll eventually bump into a stone wall here or there, maybe a pass a corner or a locked door. But without any idea of where you are, it’s impossible to tell where you’re going. ]

Re: THE BLACK VAULT

[thedarkdragon]

Well... this is annoying.

[He's trying his best to ignore the fear and foreboding. He can't see anything. It's like he's in a deep dark cave. He's careful, though. He steps carefully, reaching out to find walls and navigate himself until he finds the locked door. His hands touch the door, the lock, and he tries yanking on it. Maybe it's a way out?]

THE WITCH'S CASTLE

[voidhearts]

[It’s a dark and stormy night. Wind blows in your face. Lightning crackles in the sky, briefly lighting it up before thunder booms in the distance. Fog gathers around you. Visibility is low and the elements are getting worse, but there’s a single light in the distance. You push on towards it and you can hear a loud cackle echoing somewhere, like nails scratching a chalkboard. You’ve gotten through enough of the fog that near the light, you can see the silhouette of a castle in the distance. The storm has become truly awful at this point, leaving you no choice but to keep trekking towards the castle and, hopefully, shelter. You go a few more feet through the fog find yourself in front of a huge castle, but the gate blocks you from going further. There’s a metal knocker attached to the gate. You reach out and grab the knocker.

CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.

The noise echoes for a few seconds, and…]

[The fog and the storm all immediately part and the castle is gone. You’re standing on the street in front of a nice, upscale looking apartment building.]

”Oh, hold on one second! I’ll buzz you up!”

[That’s a voice coming from the buzzer. A couple seconds later, you do indeed her a buzz and the door opens. Entering the door leaves you in…a hallway. That seems a little off. Maybe it’s just for pacing reasons. But either way, there’s a door on your left.]

[ugly_split_ends]

...Thanks.

[Oof. This was painting a kind of sad picture. No wonder Hex was kind of... well, whatever.

Through the door!]

TAFFY TOURIST TRAP

[voidhearts]

[Tata's Taffy Theme Park is an amusement park that reside on an island that's currently floating in the sky. Nothing seems to be keeping it suspended in the air, but judging by the low hanging clouds and a pink sun that feels unnaturally close, you can't help but get a feeling that yo—]

[Wait a sec.]

[You’ve somehow wound up back in the theme park. Except, it’s…a little different. For one thing, it’s much smaller, there only seems to be one road. In front of you is the Chocolat cottage, which is…the only cottage! The rest of them aren’t here, for some reason. Within walking distance, in the center of the park like usual, is the Fairy Ring. And further up the road on the other side of the park is the shops.]

“Greetings.”

[And you’ve been approached by a young man in Sorbet colors, who you…may recognize, as it turns out.]

[You are currently outside. You can go to Chocolat’s cottage, the Fairy Ring or the Shops.]

Re: TAFFY TOURIST TRAP

[ugly_split_ends]

...Wait, I recognize you.

[Peering.]

You're not Chocolat. Why are you here??