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seasonsgreetings2024-03-15 12:11 am
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Event #7: Knocking on the 4th Wall (Inside the Metaverse)


Knocking on the 4th Wall
LOGS | NETWORK | OOC | MEMES | NAVIGATION
On March 14th, everyone received a message. The Research Center is ready to try another test to find ways to beat the Darkness. This time the test is not done with the robots that were previously used, but instead everyone who volunteers will be participating in a virtual reality simulator. They're asked to come over to the Center on March 15th.
The researchers will explain that the purpose of this simulation is to see how several fully powered power holders fair against the Darkness. They have gathered enough data on it and the dark energy in general to determine the effects it will have on nature, monsters and wildlife if the barrier is taken off. This is the only safe way to actually test their theories.
After all the necessary explanations, everyone is asked to log in to the metaverse. Anyone logging in may notice that there are a lot of glitches as they enter.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, anyone looking at any kind of a screen (their own device, television, a digital advertisement, etc.) will have their mind sucked into the metaverse, due to the virus residing in the program. Their bodies will be left in a sleep-like state wherever they may be.
The Research Center staff intended for all otherworlders to start near the Research Center so they could get used to the metaverse in peace. There are no natives in the simulator, so testing out powers around the city would have been safe as well. However, because of the glitch, people can appear anywhere, either in the city or anywhere on the segments (save from the one closed off location).
Sometimes the scenery and items in the world glitch a little bit, reminding anyone that this is the metaverse. Except the glitches weren't meant to happen. Luckily they're all mostly aesthetical, but some items may work differently than they should. You have a spoon? It actually works like a fork.
Luckily, this doesn't mean they will be without any items. They can open a menu with the device on their wrist that lets them get anything at all from Riki's Rewards during the simulator without any cost. They can think of this as special opportunity to test out all kinds of items before buying them, as they work exactly the same as they would in normal space.
For some reason, the Shady Shop also appears in the menu. That was not anyone's intention as the items are, well, shady.
Other than the two shops there are basic potion and magical item menus that people can use where needed. Even vehicles, such as airships can be summoned through the menus for easier traveling in the segments.
Some might find the glitches concerning and wish to return and tell the researches about them. The problem with that is is that clicking "Log Off" won't do anything at all, even if it's supposed to boot someone out of the metaverse. But that's not the end of the strange things going on.
Along with the otherworlders that were participating in the test, others start to join in as well due to unforeseen circumstances. Luckily, they have the same "settings" as everyone else, so they're not completely without aid wherever they end up in. They also have all of their powers unlocked for the duration of their stay in the metaverse (including all animal transformations).
As part of the strange glitch going on everyone also has access to any powers from previous worlds, if they have experienced other places before. It would seem the powers can also be shared through the item inventory, should anyone want to temporary use another world's abilities. This is possible with even a person's native powers.
And as if that wasn't enough, people who weren't on Ellipsa start appearing as well. Anyone who doesn't currently have a body on Ellipsa has a mark somewhere on their body, signaling that they're just data. This mark is somehow related to the characters that has it and emits a faint light.
All of the people who are just visiting will also be able to enjoy the metaverse the same way as anyone else. They have been sorted into a Seasons and have access to full powers - and the same item inventory. All that's different from the others is that they have no physical body to return to in this world.
During the metaverse adventures, people are able to communicate through their devices, but the messages will not go out to the "normal" network. So the messages are only between those in the metaverse, but at least the network works the same way as it would in the "normal world".
Happy communicating.
The goal of the metaverse is to have a safe environment to test powers against the Darkness. All of the barriers have been taken out, except for the one surrounding the city of Nightwake. The city acts as a safe haven to anyone who needs a break or doesn't want to fight.
Everyone is encouraged to go to where the barriers used to be and use their full, unlocked powers against everything and anything the darkness throws at them to see how well they can fight against it.
Thanks to all powers being unlocked, destroying enemies powered up by the Darkness is a lot easier, but pushing back the approaching darkness still needs something more than just raw power. Though with enough power holders of different seasons working together and
Due to the barriers being off, all creatures are stronger due to the Darkness's influence. Even creatures that normally have no danger level can now at least do Dark damage. Some Slime especially may seek vengeance.
Unfortunately, due to the weird glitch in the system, everyone inside the metaverse is able to feel pain when they originally weren't supposed to, to make the experience safe. It feels very real, and there's a chance any non-lethal wounds will appear on the person's real body.
The Darkness is slowly expanding from all sides. Very slowly, at a snail's pace. Everything it touches turns into black sand, before transforming into something different. Some may even recognize the things that rise from the sand, as they're monsters, fauna or people from their own world, made into more twisted forms. They may even be creatures from a popular media from back home... or at least, someone's home (players').
If a Power Holder walks into the Darkness, they won't immediately turn into anything. Instead the transformation is slow and painful. Leaving the area will stop the transformation, but any damage already done remains. If the person changes completely, they might lose their sense of self completely and attack anything in their sights.
What they turn into depends on the individual (player's choice) and the only way to reverse the changes is to die. Luckily that isn't permanent even in the metaverse. The person just gets booted out, but can re-enter anytime they want to (or in this case; is forced to). This was told to anyone before entering the program, so they could go all out and test limits as much as they want.
A screen appears either when someone dies or gets forcefully booted out of the metaverse. It has two options: Remember or Forget.
Clicking "Remember" will automatically save everything that happened into a person's memory and proceed to boot them out. Clicking "Forget" will lead the person to a series of "Are you Sure" pop up windows. As the very last resort, the window suggests an option to only partially forget events that transpired in the metaverse. Choosing to still forget everything will make the person wake up from a long, dreamless sleep. The memories erased cannot be found later on, as they have been completely erased from their metaverse-selves. Even someone telling them what happened won't sound familiar.
This option is also available for any visitors during the time they're visiting. Whenever they die they get booted out and can be immediately returned to the metaverse (by the power of players) with or without their memories, depending on what they chose.
Of course, anyone can then tell the person about the very crazy stunts they made the last time they were in the metaverse. They could be complete lies, but they wouldn't have any solid proof, other than "I would never do that".
Finally, on March 31st, a message comes from the outside. It's telling everyone stuck in the metaverse that they can finally leave out of their own will and stay out this time. People can then choose to leave immediately be pressing by pressing the "Log Off" button on their screen or take a moment to say goodbye to the temporary visitors of the metaverse.
The screen asking if someone wants to "Remember" or "Forget" appears, once again. This time the Forget option is even more insistent on asking if the person is sure about their choice, especially since the memories that are erased can't be taken back later.
Once everyone who exists on Ellipsa has returned to their bodies, the metaverse will be shut down. All visitors have been booted out and returned to where they came.
• Ask 4th Wall related questions here. Read the 4th wall FAQ before asking them.
• You don't need to comment on the plotting post to participate & anyone can participate in the 4th wall (there's no separate invitation needed). However, if you wish to app in later, you need an invite if you're not a friend of the mods.
• This post is open to tag and top-level by everyone! Those arriving for the 4th wall can write 4TH WALL or VISITOR on their post and/or link their top level here!
• Check the Opt-in top-level if you're considering bringing in a character that already exists in the game.
• Smut is not allowed on the event post, so if your thread is heading that way, please move it to a separate entry (like to your musebox or characters' journal).
• Remember to content and spoiler warn as necessary!
• Reminder to players in the game that this month is Activity Check-in month and check-in ends on March 31th, at 23:59 PST.
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
"I see you know me. ...I'm sorry. I don't think we've been properly introduced."
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
She knew she had no chance against all three. She had been angry, scared for her parents, but she hadn't been a FOOL.
But one...
The odds were a lot more fair with one, and especially no scroll involved.
There was a chance he had the Jade Emperor's power.
On the other hand, she had just been in the Heart Game.
And it was so close right now.
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
"I am sorry, child of Brother Bull. Uh Red Son, was it?" He asked to make sure.
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
But its amazing how getting ATTACKED for it made her want to own it out of pure spite.
Her mother had only referred to herself as a demon for centuries however.
"You're sorry? What, for not recognizing me? A play at politeness now that you don't have an absurdly stacked deck? Why even bother with my name anyway? After all, I'm just another celestial, aren't I?" She said with a scoff, the ambient temperature certainly heating up around them.
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
"I am sorry for all of it. My actions and my violence against your family. I had wanted to make the world a better place. To reunite with my brothers and fulfill our plan to accomplish that. I failed. Again. Your father had been correct. I refused to abandon my endeavor and I was struck down, again."
He lowered his head.
"For that, I am sorry. And...in my defense, you were dressed quite differently when I saw you last. And not for every long. These clothes are quite different. I am not familiar with them but they do appear to be for ease of movement."
Old ass lion man here has no idea what you're wearing and he's trying.
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
Red Son laughed bitterly. "Or is it you just never understood your so called brothers at all?"
He stepped towards Azure. He could grab it. He could make it. It wouldn't be hard at all. "I don't care you don't recognize me. I care that you decided to put my parents back into the hell that we had spent centuries escaping when it hadn't even been two years of freedom."
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
"The last I saw your mother, she was still a celestial maiden. I thought after everything that had happened, the Celestial realm had turned the Demon Bull King as they had Wukong," Azure admitted. He didn't take a step back. The heat was growing. This child was close to bursting with power. He stood his ground. He didn't move to draw his sword. Not yet.
"I thought I understood my brothers. I have learned recently, my own focus had blinded me to aspects of them. Your father no excluded. I know no of what you speak of. Your parents could not have been trapped in the scroll. Not with the curse intact. I know not what happened to you and your family. What punishment you faced at Heaven's hands. No, I thought of none of that. You are right. I should have. I meant the best and I acted the worst. I am sorry."
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
"Heaven had caused most of our pain. I only went to them because I knew they would deal with you and at least Nezha had a history of compassion for us. He was the reason they got me back. If you had simply spoken to us, we would have told you things plainly. Why we had no interest in a rebellion. But no, you assumed," Red Son said, venom dripping from his words.
But there was something there and he straightens. The temperature doesn't drop. But the rage has turned to contempt.
"Just as you assumed Wukong turned without knowing his situation. What's sad is finding out the truth would have been as simple as a library visit. The humans love telling the story of his journey and while there is a lot wrong, they were right on what FORCED him to go."
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
"Forced? What are you talking about? How could they force the Sun Wukong to travel with the monk?"
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
"He was imprisoned for centuries. Alone. Tortured. If he wasn't being harmed physically, he was left to stew in silent darkness. Do you think someone goes through that unchanged? Are you so naive as to think just because he could beat near anyone in a fight, he could take five centuries like that unscathed? He spent less than fifty days in a furnace and was changed and you thought he'd be fine after so long?"
Red Son stalked forward, glaring up at Azure Lion. "Trapped. Unable to do anything, but suffer. Then he's released of the mountain and he thinks finally, finally he could be free...only to be put on a leash. And you know, at least when its a mountain, you can think its a mountain. Of course its hard to escape from a mountain. It makes sense. But when its just a band of gold? It messes with you. Its so small. It seems like absolutely nothing. Except it doesn't break. It doesn't relent."
And his gaze is still angry, heated, but there is also a distance to it and his words. "You know you can be so powerful. You know few have a chance to truly stand against you. But then something steals away all your thoughts, all your breath, brings you to your knees, no matter how you claw at flesh, chip away at bone, it will not stop. Even if you were to remove that part of your body, it will still return when you heal. Centuries under a mountain and finally he could move, and he was still not freed. What did you expect him to do, Azure Lion? To reject the monk and be punished by Heaven directly, or go with the monk in the hope that maybe the human will have mercy when he has never been given any by those above?"
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
It wasn't just a symbol of heaven, as he thought it was. It was a leash. A tool of control. A weapon of spite. He had never considered it. He had never thought it possible. So he had assumed in the end. They had made Camel Ridge. They were constructing their paradise on the Mortal realm. He had assumed Wukong would be trapped in the Celestial realm, not down below with the rest of them.
"I...I didn't know..." He said finally. His mind unable to grasp fully what he had been told. His defenses, that preparedness to defend himself vanished. Red Son had the perfect opportunity to strike.
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
He lets go of the collar, glaring up at Azure Lion. "Alone. Tortured. Leashed. And every one he had ever called friend decided he was a traitor and had abandoned him. And as terrible as the monk was to use the circlet, at least he would show kindness. Those pilgrims would show him some decency. Do you expect Wukong to be so above, so untouchable, that he would not cling to what little compassion he was actually given? Do you think his chest so empty that it hadn't been a relief after so long of nothing?"
"How could you call him friend and not understand that Wukong isn't built for being alone?"
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
"If I had known, I would have gone to see him. I would have found him and attempted to free him. I...I..." He stopped. Would he have? He would but could he have? Heaven's might was too powerful for them to best even with Sun Wukong. Had he known, all he could do was visit. Was see his friend, his brother, the one he...
His thoughts derailed. Wukong was not build to be alone. He knew that of his brother. His brother was caring and joyful. He loved attention and protecting his people. Showering them in kindness and all their hearts could desire.
"...I failed in my duty as Wukong's brother. I failed him. And in the end, he killed me for...Camel Ridge." Azure trailed off. So much had gone wrong. So very very much. For them.
Not for heaven.
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
Red Son could lash out physically. But Azure Lion was used to that kind of pain.
The Lady Bone Demon was terrible, but she understood that sometimes, pain didn't have to be PHYSICAL to stick. Red Son gets it too.
"Can you be sincere when you didn't even grant him the chance at an explanation? Wukong and I have fought a lot. I've even hurt him. But I gave him a chance. The thing is, there's a difference between you and me," Red Son said. "I didn't owe him anything. You? You did. And you didn't even give him the bare minimum. Now he has to live with the memory of watching his brother die twice because you wouldn't even give him that much."
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
"...Those answers are for Wukong himself," He said finally. "You are right. I owe my brother that."
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
Its amazing the airs he can put on.
"Because again, you wouldn't give your brother a chance to explain anything. No, you come into his home and attack his family. And its not as if the Great Demon Bull King is known for his calm composure. You think he would react with calm rationality with his wife and child being threatened by those he know are actually capable of threatening their lives? Honestly, would he even if you weren't a threat? The insult alone," he scoffed. "You don't know what he's been through. You didn't know what he'd known. You just decided that being near my mother was cause for writing him off. Or did you really think threatening us both would get him to side with you? What, did you think mother was actively threatening him to bow down to heaven at every moment and that if she was restrained, he'd suddenly be on board? What was your thinking, Azure Lion?"
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
"Your father, my brother, left us after our defeat in heaven. My ignorance of your mother and of your very existence is not my fault alone. Your father did not send any message to us of his intentions to court your mother, their wedding, or your birth. Had any of that occurred during Wukong's imprisonment. You are correct. I could have requested an audience. Yet when I arrived and was greeted by the sight of your mother and yourself, I attacked. Your father's anger is legendary, to be sure. No, I know not what happened to him either. I knew very little and I acted upon it. And as I have said, I am sorry. However, my separation and distance from your father was not only my own doing. He found a life for himself beyond the Brotherhood and I suspect he never looked back."
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
Red Son stopped in front of Azure Lion. "Mother and I had only managed to free him less then two years before you showed back up again. Do you know how much work went into that? Thousands upon thousands of leads and failures and experiments to find a way to free him. My whole life was trying to get him back. It was why she was so terrified when she saw what you had. She had just gotten him back. She would not stand to see him taken again, even if it meant being taken herself. Then you separated them. Then you imprisoned him again. Without even a conversation. No better than Heaven, really," he said with a shrug.
"And it was why I went to Nezha. I didn't know if MK could take you on. I didn't even know if you had already run into him, and I didn't know what Wukong would do, but I knew Heaven wouldn't like you. I could talk to Nezha, at least, about letting my parents go without letting anyone else know they'd been captured. He agreed, you know. Said my family deserved to have some time together after so long apart," he said and huffed. "I didn't even have to argue with him. Didn't have to bring up how I helped with the Lady Bone Demon. That I was coming to warn heaven. I had barely breathed that my parents had been captured and he said he'd see them freed. Nezha doesn't actually owe us anything either. But unlike the rest of heaven, he understood my family and did the good thing."
"The same thing you tried to claim you were doing. The good thing. The right thing. I don't think you really understand what that means."
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
"What happened was regrettable. I admit that now. I apologize and you are under no obligation to accept it. Or forgive me. But when whatever caused me to be here ends, I will return to nonexistence. Perhaps it will give you some solace, knowing that."
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
"You used MK against his mentor. In what way is that a better world?" Red Son asked.
"It does," Red Son said and shrugged his shoulders. "At least, in theory when I go home, I will be freed shortly after. I haven't experienced that myself, but its what the others tell me...and I try to not think about how parallel worlds exist. How there are timelines where things can be different."
An anxiety he can't quite be rid of.
"And I've never pretended to be a good nor forgiving person. For the suffering you put my family through, my lover through, you deserve to pay the price. Even if they may not agree with me, but that's why I have learned to bite back on my worst impulses. I want their world to be better."
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
"I do deserve the price. You are right. Though I...am unsure as to who your lover is," He watched Red Son for a moment, trying to think about who it could be. Who would this demon be with? He had given no indication before this moment.
"Was it um...Piggy? Was that his name?" They were both the angry type and the man had shown power. "Or the large blue one?" That one had shown quite a bit of power as well. He was unsure. He was also completely wrong.
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
"I am talking about MK," Red Son said. "He's even going to bite me soon. So you can imagine I have many grievances against you."
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
"...I see," Azure said simply. That was a lot to take in. This whole discussion was a lot for the lion to take in. He wasn't sure what else to say. "Yes. You do have many reasons to have those grievances."
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor
Re: Azure Lion | Lego Monkie Kid | Visitor