♥ October (Lasohm) Fourth Wall Log

[hugtopiamods]

October (Lasohm) Fourth Wall Log

❥ Speaking of Wall Breaking...

The ghosts in town sure are weird, huh? But they're settling down, as the month draws to a close. They're becoming less anxious and random, their behaviour growing sort of… focused. As time passes some of them begin to develop features. They can interact with the world more consistently. You can… hear their voice.

And then suddenly they are people, real and physical and just as confused to be here as you are. They could be anyone, from your world, someone else's world, a place you've never heard of… some of them could even be you, from a different universe, a different timeline, an unknown reality. What does all this mean?

IT'S FOURTH WALL, Y'ALL. Tell your friends, people interested in apping or just playing around in the setting, anybody! Time to break the wall down and have some fun.

This post serves as a replacement for the usual Test Drive Meme, in order to consolidate the chaos a bit. Though it is being posted now, timeline-wise, this shift will occur ONLY during the weekend prior to applications opening: October 30th to November 2nd, after which point characters will either disappear or become permanent residents via the application process. This also means that the rest of the event effects will have worn off, and characters will be their normal selves through the duration of this prompt.

Some ground rules for the 4th Wall event:

For characters/accounts not in-game:

• a character does not have to meet application qualifications to post to the 4th Wall Event, except in cases where there is an intent to apply when applications open. Duplicates, CRAU, AU, etc. are permitted for the event.
  
• we do ask that crack shenanigans are reasonably limited, game rules are followed, and that the event involve characters only, not players or real people.
  
• anyone can toplevel! It'll be a free for all. Go wild, have fun.
  
• characters will be given a temporary, low-tech communicator for the duration of the event with limited network access, due to limited availability of the real deal.
  
• you will not arrive with any items/companions beyond the clothes that you wear
  
• check out the Setting or FAQ pages for location details! Also, have a look at the October event log, to see what else is going on these days.

For characters/accounts currently in-game:

• players can decide for themselves at the event's conclusion whether or not memories of certain visitors remain, and to what extent; memories could become fuzzy, faces or communication obscured, they could disappear entirely, or they can remain fully intact whether the person apps into the game or not.
  
• network communications with 4th Wall visitors that don't (or can't) app in will be wiped, with the locals citing a data error related to the older communicators being used. Technology can be unpredictable, huh!
  
• any communication exchanges that you WANT to keep can remain with some discretion; for example, if a spouse visits and you happen to take a selfie with them, and they do not (or cannot) app but having that photo of them would give you comfort, feel free to keep it.
  
• Similar to the TDM, 4th wall threads cannot be used for AC or AC Reward purposes unless it is between characters already in-game.
  

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Click the above prompt to expand for details. Timeline-wise, this occurs October 30th to November 2nd. For players currently in-game, if you have any questions, please direct them to the FAQ or to the Mod Question thread on the original plotting post.

On this post, we've created both another Questions Thread and a Toplevel thread (see below) for visiting players, the latter so that anyone can track and see who's posted! When you've made a toplevel, feel free to comment HERE to let everyone know.

Comments

[ancestor]

He acquiesces, giving her free rein to hold him as close as she can. She does, quickly wrapping him up in the safety of her arms and the warmth of her soul.

[firstbump]

She's like Era yet different. Older, vaster. Taller.

Ardbert lets her have the time she needs. It's the least he can do for the woman whose soul gave birth to his. She lost her entire being, as did everyone else in Amaurot. He can't take this from her, too.

[ancestor]

Eventually, after what feels like both an eternity and an instant, Hemera withdraws. She wipes away the wetness in her eyes and offers a faint smile.

"My apologies, little one."

[firstbump]

Ardbert smiles up at her softly. "It's all right. Sometimes you just need to hug someone."

Seto, seeing they're done, immediately moves up to get close to both of them for pets. Ardbert laughs, hand reaching up to scratch under his chin. The amaro knew how to ease the awkwardness of what just happened.

"And sometimes you just have to scratch an amaro under his chin."

[ancestor]

"I suppose that's true enough, but apologies all the same."

Hemera reaches out to stroke the amaro atop his head as Ardbert scratches the underside of Seto's chin.

"'Amaro'... Is that what he decided to call them?"

[firstbump]

Ardbert's brow furrows, not understanding. "... He?"

Seto could care less about the conversation now that both of them are calm and petting him.

[ancestor]

"My dearest friend, Hades," she answers easily, continuing to stroke the bird. "After I took my seat Hythlodaeus decided I would need a traveling companion—something capable of carrying me quickly through plains and woodlands, but also defend me from attack. He came up with what he called a 'chocobo'."

The smile on her face is unbearably fond. Clearly Hythlodaeus meant a great deal to her, even if she doesn't refer to him as her dearest friend.

"Hades was unimpressed. He believed I needed a companion that could fly me across long distances—creature built for endurance. He only just finished the concept before I left, but I didn't want to risk losing sweet Epimetheus."

[firstbump]

All of those names mean something to Ardbert from the way he stares at her. The information sinks in suddenly, and he chuckles, moving to stroke Seto's neck. It's funny, honestly.

"Hades made amaro? ... somehow, that surprises me as much as it doesn't. The man can be surprisingly gentle."

[ancestor]

Her hand falters. She looks down at Ardbert in surprise.

"...You know Hades?"

She had assumed he wouldn't, given that he doesn't speak the language of their homeland. Perhaps Ardbert was unable to learn it? Hemera can hardly imagine her child being incapable, but she cannot deny that having such a small fraction of her soul would limit him greatly...

Hades had always held such a fondness for children. If she was unable to raise him herself, it isn't difficult for her to imagine her dearest friend raising her Masterwork into such a sweet boy. He would have been a wonderful father.

The thought brings an odd flutter to her heart, and a blush to her cheeks.

[firstbump]

Ardbert blinks back to her in surprise for a moment with one of those little oh, shite looks as he does some quick thinking. Okay. Definitely not mentioning the whole threesome thing. Ever.

"I do, although not well." Ardbert's hand rests on Seto's neck. "But he was kind to me when I first came here. Or... well the other Hades that was here. This place can pull people from different times, and sometimes when it pulls them in a second time, they seem to have no memories of this place."

[ancestor]

"...What?"

Hemera understands, in theory, what it is he's saying, but it's all a bit much for her right now. Or, more accurately, it's nothing she can accept as the truth just yet.

"Surely... You aren't saying that I will forget you, once I leave?"

[firstbump]

Ardbert's eyes sadden. "I... honestly don't know. Timelines exist in our world, too, so I don't know... how all of that works. Maybe you will? Maybe you won't? Maybe he was another Hades from another timeline? I can't say."

Forgetting is one of Era's fears, too....

[ancestor]

"So there is hope yet..."

She would gladly forget every other marvelous thing she discovers about this world if it meant she could hold Ardbert in her memory forever.

[firstbump]

Ardbert nods, glad he was able to pull some hope straight out of his ass. Once, he was really good at that.

"There is. Which is why we should focus on what we have now rather than on what we may or may not lose. I know at least I have been here for a while. The longer you are here, the longer you seem to remain."

[ancestor]

Hemera reaches out to touch Ardbert's face again, still unbearably loving and awed. She feels a burst of pride and only just resists the urge to pull him into her arms again.

"I cannot stay here for long. The path I tread will not allow for it," she tells him, gently. "But my deepest wish has always been to have a child... However impossible it may seem, I cannot imagine any greater masterwork. To know that you exist... It fills me with such joy."

[firstbump]

Ardbert wants to say that they can't control how long they stay, but being called a masterwork leaves him speechless and happily embarrassed again. It's adorable. He's happy that his soul came from someone kind.

"It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside hearing something like that coming from you. But I'm not the only one. There's another that has inherited your soul here."

[ancestor]

"'Warm and fuzzy'..." Hemera smiles down at him. "That is how I feel in this moment, seeing the beauty my soul has created."

She strokes the back of one hand gently along the side of his face, but falters as he finishes speaking.

"...Another? I have another soul-child?"

[firstbump]

She had many more than that... and Hemera shall never know. The question could make him feel awkward, but honestly, he's too happy to feel it.

"Her name is Era. ... We are different people. We fell in love and we are wed. And someday, we will have a child of our own. I suppose that would make you a grandmother?"

[ancestor]

"'Era'... She was named after me?"

She feels a bit overwhelmed by all this information. Her children... In love and wed, and planning on children of their own one day?

"...Y—You're so young to be wed!" Hemera squeaks out, not sure how to react. She feels happy of course, but it is rather a lot to take in. "And I'm— I am a few thousand years too young to be a grandmother. I didn't expect to be a mother for at least another thousand!"

[firstbump]

It takes Ardbert's brain a moment to fully absorb all the information he just learned from that one reaction. They live for thousands of years? She expects to live for thousands more? He hopes he can avoid mentioning that people no longer live such long lives.

Ardbert waves his hands in front of him in a placating gesture. "Easy, easy, I said someday, not tomorrow. We have things we must do first."

[ancestor]

His reassurances do ease her mind a great deal, and she quickly begins to settle.

"Things you must do... There are a great many things to be done first," Hemera tells him. "There will be time for children when you're grown. Enjoy these years while you can, my dearest Ardbert. Fill them with stories and adventures to pass unto your children when the time comes."

[firstbump]

Ardbert truly wants to tell her that he's very much grown, but he's certain it will fall on deaf ears. "I've already got plenty of stories, and I plan to fill them with more. ... but honestly, how old do you think I am?"

[ancestor]

She gives him a scrutinizing look—one that runs far deeper than the surface. It is intimate and invasive, yet somehow not. Perhaps it has to do with how her soul reaches out to inspect his ever-so-gently; a warm, featherlight touch against his, like the brush of her hand against his cheek.

"Older than a century, but less than three. Scarcely more than a babe..." Hemera glances at his face again, then can't help but give his jaw a quick, playful stroke with the tips of her fingers. "...And yet look at this little beard on you!"

[firstbump]

Ardbert waits patiently, letting her soul make its inspection with a smile on his face, chuckling when she touches his tuft of chin hair. "I'm an adult by our measure, believe it or not."

While he could survive a week with her believing otherwise, Era would hate it too much.

casually yeets a bff to her

[ancestor]

After letting out a long and very dubious 'hmm...', Hemera decides that this requires a second opinion.

"One moment, dearest Ardbert," she tells him, taking a few steps back to hold her hand palm-down between them. "I shall call for a consult."

The steady, rhythmic tick-tick-tick of a metronome rings softly through the air as dots and lines of golden aether form a circle around her, spreading outward to the space between them to make another matching circle. A simple pattern of blue dots hovers around each circle, radiating a soft blue to match her aether. This is the simplest version of her trademark spell, summoning only one nearby companion to her rather than multiple, but she has ever enjoyed the simpler spells—they're much easier to cast in the heat of combat, should the need arise.