Yuze
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Weekend Warrior
Mythstar
Posts: 223
Trainer Class: 
Player Name: Vera Miroslavova Kovacheva, PhD
OOC Username: Stells
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Yuze on May 10, 2023 3:29:18 GMT 9
He's not here due to some mistake or a glitch in the game, nor is he here to save one particular soul. When Yuze steps into the halls of UNOVR's ever after, he does so because he's required to. Just another item to check off his list. Just another condition fulfilled. And yet...
And yet this one is different.
Wondering about death is an inevitability of life, and wondering about life after death is an inevitability of being told one will die long before one's previously expected time. That's how she had always thought of it. What happens after death? Is there really an afterlife? Faith says yes, logic says no, and her empirical knowledge exists right between both.
When Yuze looks at the gold-robbed statues, at the masked phantoms, there is also wondering if this really can be called life at all. There is no death in UNOVR, but Pokémon still end up wandering these halls instead of out in the "living" world. Why? That is the question he has for Seta, and the one he calmly voices when standing before the Gatekeeper of the Everworld:
"Seta, are Pokémon meant to be in the Everworld?" He's not trying to be witty, or cheeky, or anything of the sort; there's genuine curiosity in his voice. A genuine desire to know. Almost as if expecting Seta's response to unlock some deeper universal knowledge. He knows that's absurd, of course. He knows that whatever Seta says will be said because they were programmed to say so. Of course Pokémon are meant to be here, it's the way the game works! He still asks, though. He still wants to know. He still wants to be sure.
"I think—... Hm... I think that if one of them was given the chance to get out of here and go back to where they came from, they would take it, so maybe I should give one of them that chance. I didn't come here to 'save' any one particular Pokémon, but now that I'm here, isn't it only right to do so? I'd want someone to do it for me if I were in their place, at least."
That is something she had thought of too. Orpheus and Eurydice and countless other stories of the sort.
"That Rufflet, maybe." He nods towards the Rufflet-masked statue after a moment of consideration.
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C0D13
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Bug Maniac
Administrator
Posts: 1,826
Trainer Class: 
Player Name: C0D13
OOC Username: Ladybug
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Post by C0D13 on May 12, 2023 12:27:42 GMT 9
Yuze's question is left unanswered.
It is not in Seta's interest to debate the philosophy of The Everworld's place within the greater process of life and death.
They are the gatekeeper for this realm. Nothing more.
Yuze requests a trial. Asks for passage of a soul between the worlds, something that falls squarely into Seta's purview.
"Spirits gather here for they have no place in the world above," Seta said, their voice full of calm, eternal patience. "If you can convince one that a place exists, then they may return with you."
They turn, and the grayness moves down the hall. They lead you to a door-shaped hole in the wall, Not a door, because that would require a barrier of some sort. Wood, a hinge. This is more like a taut black curtain strung up in a rectangular piece.
"Do not forget your face," Seta warns, "or that of the soul you seek." An image of the golden Rufflet mask flashes on your mind, and you have an instant to etch the form into your mind -golden beak, gilded feathers, glittering eyes- before you step into the darkness.
It's as brief as blinking, and you find yourself in a new world.
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Yuze
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Weekend Warrior
Mythstar
Posts: 223
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Vera Miroslavova Kovacheva, PhD
OOC Username: Stells
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Yuze on May 19, 2023 11:27:53 GMT 9
"A funhouse." She had never been to a funhouse before and she never had any particular interest in visiting one, but when the darkness fades and Yuze finds himself transported away from Seta's Hall, the hippocampus does its wonders, and Vera oh-so-easily recognises what surrounds him. It's all pulled from pop culture: from cartoons, movies, and most of all, from one particular P!nk song that she listened to an excessive amount back in late 2008: Pictures framing up the past
Your taunting smirk behind the glass
This museum full of ash
Once a tickle, now a rash In all of her lyrical wisdom, P!nk must have been attempting to make a point about how life — and as a result, love — is supposed to be nice and fun but often turns out to actually be terrifying. It's a good point, and yet what Vera finds herself thinking of when these lyrics come to mind is of all of those days when she listened to this song while walking through campus. That is until today, at least. Until Yuze steps closer to a mirror and his reflection smirks back at him; not in the cold and sharp way that belongs to her, but instead in the playful and mischievous one that belongs to him. A warm, knowing stare. A wicked smirk. This is not how Yuze looks these days, but it once was, and the thought of it is dizzying. "...This used to be our funhouse, but now it's full of evil clowns, hm?" He recites in a hushed tone, his lips marked by a smirk of his own — Vera's, the one that is all too different from that of his reflection. "Guess that makes me the clown." Ridiculous.Is the game pulling from past data or leaving the majority of the trial up to Vera's own mind? This question must be answered and the trial must be completed, so Yuze steps forward, leaving the first mirror behind. Find the Rufflet.
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Yuze
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Weekend Warrior
Mythstar
Posts: 223
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Vera Miroslavova Kovacheva, PhD
OOC Username: Stells
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Yuze on Jun 9, 2023 5:30:13 GMT 9
Mirrors upon mirrors upon mirrors. Reflections upon reflections upon reflections. In each one, Yuze changes slightly, not just in form, but in appearance as well... His height, his build, his hair colours, his eyes, his facial features...
It's as if sliders being moved around...
Character creation data?
Is that what this is? Is the game reverting the changes made when first creating Yuze's avatar? Moving those sliders one-by-one until the reflection looks like what Yuze should have looked like when he first logged in over a year ago during UNOVR's Beta stages? It seems like the logical deduction to Vera, the likely answer, but if that really is the answer then that means that soon enough, when Yuze steps in front of one of these mirrors, the reflection before him will be that of—
"...Andy."
He looks just as he had looked the last time Vera saw him, except perhaps for one thing: he smiles with that same excitement he always showed about things like these, the kind of silly and joyful smile that was stolen away from him during those last few months they spent together. The first signs of it are clear in this reflection too. Clear in those bags under his eyes and in the way he looks so tired despite how he had been looking forward to playing this game.
Without even realizing what he's doing at first, one of Yuze's hands touches the mirror, but when it does, the one in the reflection holds something between them: a white feather, small, soft, and doubtless belonging to a Rufflet.
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Yuze
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Weekend Warrior
Mythstar
Posts: 223
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Vera Miroslavova Kovacheva, PhD
OOC Username: Stells
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Yuze on Sept 1, 2023 18:50:48 GMT 9
#s://i~imgur~com/9DABYkY~png The Rufflet.
You're here for the Rufflet.
Find the Rufflet.
He should move on. He should step away from the mirror. He's close, after all. He can feel it; the Rufflet must be somewhere near, but... If he moves on, if he looks away, then he may never see this again. The next mirror will show him something different, and if he were to turn back, it would be too late — even from the corner of his eye Yuze can see how the path he had come from has darkened. This is the last time Vera may see Andy, even if she knows that it's not actually him. It's like looking at a picture, like one of her perfect memories. "...Isn't this unsettling, Andy?" Vera asks in a whisper, using that voice that Andy himself had once chosen for this avatar. Andy would agree, he would perhaps even joke about how she isn't usually this easy to scare, but the reflection... The reflection smirks. A smirk too cold and too cruel to belong to him. Yuze stumbles back, the soles of the black sneakers a kind NPC had once given him squeaking against the floor of the funhouse. Words are spoken by this reflection that had taken the form of Andy, but in the mirror, those words are muted. No sound is needed. Yuze can understand it without even a need to read its lips, as if the words were within him. Found you. He runs. ...Why does he run?He questions it as he passes by mirror after mirror, the images they show being nothing more than a blur to him. He should stop. He should figure out what's actually going on. There has to be logic in this. Yet, an instinct say to run, and sometimes even someone like Vera can be ruled by instincts. Is this the darkness that had supposedly been hunting him down? It must be. But, if it is a monstrosity of the Everworld? Why does it feel familiar? Why does it feel like what Yuze encountered at Mistra, right before ending up here?
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Yuze
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Weekend Warrior
Mythstar
Posts: 223
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Vera Miroslavova Kovacheva, PhD
OOC Username: Stells
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Yuze on Nov 9, 2023 14:35:52 GMT 9
#s://i~imgur~com/9DABYkY~png Do, do, do, do, do, do, do...I HUNGER. What is this? What data is the WorldScreen pulling from to generate this scenario? Yuze runs and silver drips, mirrors melting all around him. His pulse quickens, his breath hitches, and he knows what it means: Vera's mind is being overstimulated by these events, brain activity must be akin to REM sleep. "I see... You're a nightmare, then." Yuze declares, his tone calm despite the fact that there is no pause to his steps. He keeps running and running and running, following the trail of feathers. Mirrors melt and he never looks at them. He never looks back either. Threat Simulation Theory tells us that the evolutionary function of dreams is to rehearse potential threatening situations, allowing for an increase in threat perception and in the ability to avoid and handle dangerous situations. Technology like the WorldScreen can — intentionally or unintentionally — tap into this biological defense mechanism, and with that being the case, calling this a nightmare wouldn't be a stretch. The problem is that the mechanisms of dreaming are also tightly linked to memory, and maybe that's why this voice that has no sound laughs at him. Vera does not remember it and that is an impossible thing. I'm no nightmare. I'm as real as you are and I will devour you, Vera. "...What?"Yuze stops dead on his tracks, and then... then he turns to face the darkness.
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Yuze
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Weekend Warrior
Mythstar
Posts: 223
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Vera Miroslavova Kovacheva, PhD
OOC Username: Stells
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Yuze on Nov 9, 2023 14:57:16 GMT 9
<'NO!'> It hits his chest, hard and fast: a cannonball aimed directly at his celiac plexus, pain shooting through the radiating fibers of its nervous network. So it would be if Yuze were a real person, at least, yet in the depths of this complex simulation, the wind gets knocked out of him all the same, and he barely has time to react — grimacing and impulsively reaching to wrap his arms around his chest. He had been hit by something soft. Something feathered and covered in drops of liquid silver."...Rufflet."Had it jumped out of a melting mirror? Oh. Of course. That second voice had had a perceived sound when he had assumed it had none; it had been the voice of the artificial intelligence that is this Rufflet. So, then, what if the darkness chasing him is AI as well?"Shit. That's what it meant."He holds onto the bird and the bird holds onto him as well, but whatever the Everworld had meant to create, whatever that dark presence was supposed to represent, it had been touched by something else. It had been corrupted.It had followed him here, Yuze understands that now. It had come from Mistra. Not a Pokémon, a different kind of AI... A parasite.Of course. The new class he had acquired. How had Vera not thought of this sooner? You're MINE.
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Yuze
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Weekend Warrior
Mythstar
Posts: 223
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Vera Miroslavova Kovacheva, PhD
OOC Username: Stells
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Yuze on Nov 9, 2023 15:17:21 GMT 9
"No." He echoes the word spoken by the bird he now holds, and in agreement the bird shares in his echo: assertive, uncompromising, and furious. <'NO!'>
The situation has shifted, the balance of power redistributed.
Knowledge. Understanding. Logic. The pillars on which the library that is Vera Kovacheva's mind stands are untouched. Even if all of the information regarding what now haunts Yuze has not compiled, approaching the situation with logic and attempting to understanding leads to a shift in the balance. And, that's the thing: Vera craves to understand it. There's a puzzle in the darkness that stretches before the crimson eyes of this avatar, and Vera has never been able to leave a puzzle incomplete, much less untouched.
The problem is that here the puzzle still has the upper hand.
"I came here for this Rufflet." Yuze says then, as much for the creature in the darkness as it is a reminder to himself. The mirrors are all gone and the void stretches, it's time to leave this place. "I'm going to leave with it, but if you're leaving with us, we should talk afterwards. I have a proposal."
He turns and he does not look back, his attention now fully on finding his way out.
Whatever the creature may think of his words, this time, it does not reply.
<'OUT!'> The Rufflet, however, sure does.
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C0D13
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Bug Maniac
Administrator
Posts: 1,826
Trainer Class:
Player Name: C0D13
OOC Username: Ladybug
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Post by C0D13 on Dec 9, 2023 18:29:01 GMT 9
The mirrors fade from silver to gray, signaling the end of the Trial. "You have found the lost spirit," says Seta simply from somewhere nearby. "You have passed the Trial of Reflection."
The gray pushes close, engulfing you and your saved soul, and then a flash of vermillion as you find yourself back in the hall you started in. Back at the crossroads.
Red gates fill the sky, and Seta is nowhere to be found, though his words echo in your mind long after you leave the halls.
"Nothing leaves the Everworld unchanged."
Rufflet has been added to Yuze's box.
Rufflet has learned Mirror Shot! |
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