anyone and everyone is allowed! Stars and Spheres

[AonEne]

Itiah tried to give me the pudding again, and I shook my head. "I don't need help right now," I told him. "I need Ap back."

Quote

Hey everyone. I've been considering making myself go insane, what do you think?

Edit: Also, this back-and-forth of the pudding is amusing

Edit edit: Itiah in general is amusing

 

Edited August 19, 2019 by AonEne

[Lunamor]

Quote

Ooooo, insanity!

I snuck around the edges of the room, highly confused as to what was happening. Someone had died- what had been his name? Apollo? I never knew him, but his passing made Ene sad, and therefore made me sad. I didn’t know how I had gotten here. I had been invited to the wedding planning, but hadn’t been involved in it. Itiah waved at me for some reason. That was odd. I continued my circuit of the room, doing my best to avoid meeting anyone’s eyes. Although I was innocent, who better to suspect of killing the groom than the one who never knew him?

[I think I am here.]

8 hours ago, AonEne said:

Itiah tried to give me the pudding again, and I shook my head. "I don't need help right now," I told him. "I need Ap back."

Quote

Insanity would be... interesting

“I need Ap back.”

Well.

I looked to the ex-groom ‘Ap’, who laid stomach to the floor, utterly and completely dead, a pool of blood sitting under him and soaking itself into the hardwood flooring of the wedding hall. Without a doubt he was dead as a doornail, and when I looked back to Ene I was suddenly wearing a fedora and a pinstripe suit, a cigarette hanging from my mouth and a quiet jazz track sounding vaguely behind me.

“Look, lady,” I said, my voice gruff and sombre, pushing the pudding back into her hands.

“Your little Ap is dead. Gone. Busted up like an overplayed jukebox and now he’s playing blackjack with the God Beyond. So you can either choose to hire me, find out the biscuit-boxing son-of-a-gun that put the lead in his head, little lady, or —”

And suddenly it was just me again, no suit, hat, cigarette or gruff voice. I looked around and it seemed like the jazz music had stopped too.

“Or, I mean, you can call the police. But please try the pudding. I made it myself.” I smiled.

[old man moomba]

Quote

(Jazz music stops)

 

[Zath]

Of all the times to trip and get a bloody nose, Zath thought to himself in irritation as he stood before a bathroom mirror, holding a wad of tissues against the offending nostril.  I'm supposed to be at the wedding right now, I'm Apollyon's best man!  One of them, at least.  I should be there!  Hurry up and heal, nose!

Zath carefully removed the tissues, ready to replace them if needed, but fortunately it seemed as if his nose had finally stopped bleeding.  Zath quickly washed his face and hands of any blood and checked his reflection in the mirror to be sure he was presentable.  He didn't want to cause a scene on Ene's and Ap's special day.  

To his own eyes, Zath looked like himself, dressed in a tuxedo and bow-tie for the wedding.  However, Zath now knew from experiences earlier in the day that to everyone else, he looked just like his profile picture on the 17th Shard: a guy in a battered, black leather jacket with the head of a Cavalier King Charles spaniel.  Zath didn't know why that was the case.  Maybe if he'd done a face reveal, he'd be seen as he actually was?  In any case, at least the bow-tie was still visible to other people.  

Zath hustled out of the bathroom and through the halls, heading for the chapel.  As he approached a small side door where he could discreetly enter and get to the spot where Apollyon's best men where supposed to be, Zath heard a loud THUMP, followed by gasps and stifled screams.  A sudden dread filled Zath's stomach, as if he'd just eaten several pieces of stale jerky that didn't just disagree with him, but had formed an entire debate club dedicated to disagreeing with everything.  

Zath opened the door and stepped through to find the chapel in mild chaos.  He could see a sizeable hole in the ceiling right above the altar. Standing at the altar was AonEne in a white, long-sleeved wedding gown, embroidered with golden dragons and Aons and whatnot.  A crowd of people was rapidly forming around Ene, and everyone seemed to be focused on a crumpled, bloody form on the floor.  A form in a white suit... It was Apollyon.

"Oh.  Oh no," Zath murmured faintly.  It was a terribly inadequate response to the tragedy that lay before him, but it was the best he had on such short notice.  Apollyon, whom Zath had seen and spoken to earlier that very same day, was dead, killed on the day that he and AonEne were to be married.  How could this have happened?

"Well!  This wedding just got a lot more exciting, huh?" said a voice from Zath's right.  Zath turned to see who had spoken.  A wiry young man with a mane of unruly amber hair was leaning against the wall next to Zath, watching the goings-on with interest.  The guy wore a weathered brown leather jacket, worn jeans, and sturdy boots.  A short katana was strapped to his thigh.  His face was thin and mostly unremarkable except for his nose, which-- judging by its crooked shape-- looked like it had been broken pretty badly at least once, probably more.

"Who... are you?"  Zath asked, still in slight shock.

"We've met," said the young man casually.  "Multiple times actually.  Just focus for a bit, it'll come to you.  You wrote me, after all, so you have some immunity to my Semblance."

Zath frowned at him in confusion.  "Wha...?"  Then the confusion turned to a sense of familiarity, then to a vague recollection.  "Wait, I do remember you," Zath said hesitantly.  "I ran into you outside the... uh... oh yeah, the kitchens.  You were... eating the food that was supposed to be served after the ceremony."

"Yep!" the amber-haired guy replied.  "Just getting a head start on those h'or doeuvres.  Free food is the best part of weddings."

"Wait, you're Beram!"  Zath remembered.  "And you used your powers, you used your Semblance on me to erase my memories of you!"

"Well, you seemed like you were getting cranky over h'or doeuvres, of all things" Beram explained calmly, "so I figured you'd be happier if you forgot about seeing me eating them.  You're welcome."

"I-- you-- but--" Zath stammered.

"Plus, the caterers were starting to get annoyed with me, so I figured I'd make them forget about me too so I could enjoy that free food in peace," Beram continued. "Two birds, one memory wipe."

"That's-- but-- you shouldn't--" Zath stammered.

"C'mon," Beram said, pushing himself off the wall.  "Let's go see what's going on over there."  Beram started heading over to the people crowded around Apollyon's body.  After a moment, Zath sighed and followed.

Zath recognized almost none of the people gathered around Ene.  As he and Beram drew closer, many of them suddenly flew through the air by various means to the hole in the ceiling, presumably to investigate. Okay, that just happened, thought Zath, who was unused to seeing people fly so casually.  Beram, on the other hand, seemed to take it in stride.

Near Ene stood a young woman with long brown hair in a gold dress ringed with topaz around the waist.  Zath thought she might be Rebecca, one of Ene's bridesmaids.  She looked a bit queasy from the sight of Apollyon's body, which was totally understandable. 

Also nearby, offering Ene a cup of pudding, was someone who looked like... who looked like...  Actually, Zath wasn't sure.  Somehow, Zath got the feeling that the guy looked like what he was supposed to look like, but his appearance seemed to shift subtly from one moment to the next, depending on what was happening.  ...Or not so subtly, as he was abruptly dressed in a pinstripe suit and a fedora, a cigarette dangling from his lips.  He looked like a private investigator straight out of the early 20th century.  And... was that jazz music in the background?  Just as abruptly, the guy's appearance returned to normal, whatever "normal" was, and the music faded.  Zath blinked, then decided he was better off not asking.

Zath also noticed a guy dressed all in black near the back of the chapel, with a porkpie hat pulled down over his eyes.  Who dresses entirely in black for a wedding?  That's more of a funeral thing, isn't it?  A veritable menagerie of characters accompanied him, most notably (at least at first glance) a man in a gleaming white, armored mech suit of some kind.  They all seemed to be heading toward Apollyon's body, too.

Zath and Beram joined the group around Ene, and Beram crouched down to get a closer look at the body.  

"Mm-hmm, this fiancé is certainly dead," Beram said, gazing from the body to the hole in the ceiling to the people nearby.  "I'd bet on 'murdered', personally."

"What makes you say that?" Zath asked worriedly.

"Well, you know what they say," Beram said, "a fiancé takes the 'n' out of 'finance'."

Zath blinked uncomprehendingly.  "...What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I know how to spell 'fiancé'," Beram replied.  "Beyond that, nothing much."

Zath sighed, and then turned to Ene.  "I apologize for Beram's lack of tact," he said.  "And I am so sorry for what happened to Apollyon.  Maybe if I'd been a better best man, I could've prevented whatever it was that led to this."  (...Did I just say 'a better best man'? Zath thought.  Language is weird.)

To those around Zath (except for Beram, weirdly enough), it was as though his voice was coming from somewhere within the battered leather jacket, slightly muffled.  The dog's head poking out from the collar of the jacket clearly wasn't doing the talking.  In fact, as Zath spoke, the dog seemed to be sniffing the air with mild curiosity, not paying much attention to what was going on (honestly, it was hard to tell what the dog was focused on, given that each eye pointed a different direction).

[AonEne]

27 minutes ago, Zath said:

To his own eyes, Zath looked like himself, dressed in a tuxedo and bow-tie for the wedding.

Quote

Apparently, Jean Luc Picard. Except a hundred trillion years old.

Oh my goodness, though, that was the best thing I've read all day. Possibly all month. Zath and Beram interacting is literal gold.

By the way I've decided that my writer's block in regards to this is coming from the fact that I never write myself very well, so I'm going to write solely from the perspective of my characters from now on

Ene looked from Itiah to Zath to Rebecca to Dapper, then closed her eyes and quietly fainted.

[Zath]

Quote

Something like a hundred-trillion-year-old Picard, sure. 

Thanks!    I'd been meaning to join in for a while now.  Finally here!

Zath watched as Ene swayed, then started to fall in a faint.  He made an awkward, lurching motion toward her, knowing he should try to catch her but not quite believing that she would actually fall.  Zath's reflexes weren't great in crisis situations like this; he tended to freeze up.  Unless he was playing outdoor volleyball.  But this wasn't outdoor volleyball.  ...Or was it?

Thinking about volleyball spurred Zath to action.  He let his muscle memory take over as he dove forward, low to the ground, hands together and arms stretched out flat as a board as if to dig a spiked volleyball.  He managed to get his arms beneath Ene just before she hit the ground, softening the impact.

"Whoa, head injury avoided!" Beram commented, looking over.  "Nice."

"...Ow, my back... I think I pulled a muscle..." Zath said faintly, still sprawled face-down on the floor with Ene's head and shoulders resting on his outstretched arms.

[Rebecca]

Rebecca looked up just as Ene’s eyes passed over her. They fell on a man dressed in black next.

And then, Ene fainted.

A gasp escaped Rebecca’s lips as Ene’s limp body fell toward the ground. Her mind told her to do something, but her body wouldn’t move. She was frozen. Thankfully, a man swooped forward, and caught Ene, just before she hit the ground. 

But wait, it wasn’t a man. Well, it sort of was. Where the man’s head should be, there was a dog’s head. Rebecca wanted to puzzle over this strange sight more, but there were more pressing matters.

Rebecca rushed to Ene’s side (apparently she could move again), and looked to the man holding her.

“Thanks for catching her. Those were some impressive reflexes.” Rebecca tried to ignore the fact that she was talking to a half dog, half man as she said this.

[I think I am here.]

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Zath and Itiah should totally meet each other and break the fourth wall together  

Things happened fast. Very fast. So fast I looked around to see whether there was a bendalloy or cadmium misting around. Not like I would know. I was no Seeker. Or was I? Taking a swig of my metals I tried to burn bronze.

Nothing. Storm, I was probably going to get metal poisoning now. I cursed the writer at not giving me powers, and looked down at Ene and this man with a dog’s head. I kneeled down, looking at the man-dog, realisation dawning on me.

“I’ve seen you before, somewhere,” I said. “Didn’t you do that eastern street slang rap?”

[AonEne]

Safire nodded a goodbye at several of the departing people. Clearly the presence of so many characters was just disrupting things - that one woman glaring at anyone with long hair certainly wasn't helping matters - so she had narrowed Ene's remaining to herself, Cobalt, Mond, Diona, Replay, Shimmerwing, Deteca, Marian, Ryfne, Sunny, Swift, Ieiea and Phrase, Cassie and Joy, Izzy, and Ene the seon, who was their connection to everyone else. It was still a lot of people, but it made things slightly simpler, and having only one dragon especially made the group feel diminished.

Determinedly ignoring the buzz of thoughts around her, Saph walked to Shimmerwing. "Find anything up there?" she whispered.

The young SilkWing shrugged elegantly as the last of her passengers - Swift - dismounted, making him fall off with a yelp. "Yd thought she saw someone shadowy, but they disappeared before we could get closer." Extending a talon to help the Kirlia up, she added, "And even that could've been nothing."

Safire sighed, thanked her, and moved on. She checked with Mydrys through the girl's seon, but when she had nothing new to add, Saph moved on.

***

"This is really crazy," Cassie muttered to Jamie, watching sadly as Ap's body was taken from the chapel. Paramedics were carrying Ene away too, having taken her from Zath. @Dr. Dapper

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Sorry Itiah, she's never eating that pudding.

Thanks for catching me, by the way, Zath

Looks like I've been ninjaed. Let's see if I have to change anything...don't think so, okay.

@Zath @I think I am here. @Rebecca @Ashspren

Edited September 2, 2019 by AonEne
I FORGET TO @ EVERY SINGLE TIME also I tried to summon Ash again

[old man moomba]

"Mmhmm." Jamie responded, "I mean, how do you even kill one of them." she gestured to Dapper. Dapper noticed her gesturing and grimaced. 

"It's... hard to do." he finally said, "I've had to do it several times to others Dappers that were causing trouble. A character couldn't do it, even one as powerful as a god. Only one of us could do it. Or... a weapon of some sort, imbued with some kind of power similar to what we wield." 

Fear was taking notes. "Well, that narrows our list of suspects quite a bit doesn't it?" 

~~~

"Yeah." Dapper said, "Now get out. Same for the rest of you as well. I'll bring back who I want." 

Every character besides Dwig imploded into nothingness. Dapper gave a sigh of contentment and summoned Rydin the Stand user, Killien the Stoneward, Jamie the Twinborn, Ciera the warrior, and Fearson the detective. 

"The skeleton crew for our little mystery." Dapper commented. 

[AonEne]

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Oooh I am loving this worldbuilding, Dapper. Nice. So I'm thinking Writers can control their characters, right? And we erase this type of thing from their memories when they go to their respective roleplays?

"Narrows it down?" Cassie asked, blinking. "But that's still any of their type. There are...lots."

"They're called Writers," a voice near her said quietly, and Cass jumped. "Or that's one of the names I've heard them called. Authors...Avatars...Sharders...depending on where you are." She smiled slightly. "I'm Deteca, second leader of The Underground Bakers' Association, by the way. Nice to meet you. Over where I'm from...there's this place. I've heard strange things have happened there, but most of the time it's like it doesn't exist." She took a deep breath. "It's called the Mountain of the Gods."

[xinoehp512]

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Narrators.

That too.

On another note, do you know who the murderer is?

 

Edited September 2, 2019 by xinoehp512

[AonEne]

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Storm it I forgot one. Xino, come in here and tell Deteca that

 

[xinoehp512]

52 minutes ago, AonEne said:

"Narrows it down?" Cassie asked, blinking. "But that's still any of their type. There are...lots."

"They're called Writers," a voice near her said quietly, and Cass jumped. "Or that's one of the names I've heard them called. Authors...Avatars...Sharders...depending on where you are." She smiled slightly. "I'm Deteca, second leader of The Underground Bakers' Association, by the way. Nice to meet you. Over where I'm from...there's this place. I've heard strange things have happened there, but most of the time it's like it doesn't exist." She took a deep breath. "It's called the Mountain of the Gods."

All of a sudden, a man was there. He didn't appear, not exactly- but he hadn't been there a moment before, either. Like some strange wave-particle from the realms of the infinitesimal, he transitioned from a state of non-existence to existence without anyone noticing how it was done.

"I have been there," he said softly. "And more places, besides. Places with beings who are both character and Author, tale-weaver and tale-woven. Narrators, they are called." He bowed his head slightly. "Beings, also, who can kill the immortal, destroy the unbreakable, Silence that which cannot be silenced... and who will, if given reason."

Edited September 2, 2019 by xinoehp512

[old man moomba]

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Hired hit, anyone?

 

[+Doomstick]

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please explain the situation!

 

[Zath]

“Thanks for catching her," someone said from nearby.  Zath tilted his head to see the bridesmaid in the gold dress with long brown hair speaking to him.  "Those were some impressive reflexes.”

"I've seen you before, somewhere," someone else said.  It was the guy who'd been offering Ene some pudding earlier.  "Didn't you do that eastern street slang rap?"

"You're welcome, and yeah, that eastern street slang rap was me," Zath said weakly as paramedics entered the chapel and hurried toward them.  As Zath spoke, the Cavalier King Charles spaniel head protruding from the collar of his jacket nosed at Ene's hair and even tried to nibble on it, but the paramedics lifted Ene onto a stretcher and out of the dog's reach.  Zath was oblivious to what the dog head was doing, of course, since he couldn't see it.  

Zath got to his feet and gingerly rubbed the small of his back.  "I'm Zath.  You're Rebecca, right?" he said to the bridesmaid.  Then he addressed the other guy, "And you're... Well, you're here, I think.  ...Oh!  You must be Itiah!  It's good to meet you both.  Or, re-meet, I guess.  Or, roleplay-meet for the first time.  Or, well, you know what I mean."

Other people had been coming and going, some even vanishing or appearing into thin air.  Zath heard them discussing Apollyon's death and what could have caused it.  The porkpie hat guy in black was apparently Dapper.

As Zath tried to listen, he was distracted by the sight of Beram, a piece of chalk in his hand, standing by the spot where Apollyon had fallen.  Looking closer, Zath saw that Beram had drawn a chalk outline of the body.  Zath also noticed that the head of the chalk outline had a smiley face drawn on it.

"Beram!  Seriously?" Zath scolded.  Beram looked over at him questioningly, and Zath gestured at the smiley face indignantly.

"Oh!  Right, right, sorry," Beram apologized.  He bent down and rubbed away the mouth of the smiley face, then used the chalk to replace it with a frown.  Beram looked back at Zath and gave him a thumbs-up, a barely-detectable glint of mischief in his eyes.

Zath sighed and rubbed his forehead.  To everyone else, it looked like he was petting the dog head on his shoulders.  

[I think I am here.]

23 hours ago, Zath said:

Well, you're here, I think.  ...Oh!  You must be Itiah!  It's good to meet you both.  Or, re-meet, I guess.  Or, roleplay-meet for the first time.  Or, well, you know what I mean."

“I think I do,” I said, looking at the chalk outline Zath’s friend had made and looking around to what the other guests hadn’t done. More had appeared, and they appeared to be discussing somethings out writers. Narrators, or something of that calibre.

Calibre, I thought, looking over to the chalk outline, I had a pipe I appeared be smoking and a Sherlock Holmes cap. Gunshot wound? Unlikely. As stated by the other party, it takes something of rather extraordinary power to even stifle a feather on one such as a writer. It takes a writer to kill a writer.

“I think I know what you’re talking about,” I said, jumping up and joining the other group. All semblance of me being like Sherlock Holmes was gone again.

“Think in the fact that I think I have a writer, that or I am the writer.” First person was weird. If I was written in first person... did that make me an author’s self-insert, as if this was a bad fiction. I shivered and my whole image shuddered out and back in of existence as I immediately became grateful I wasn’t in some’s saucy fan-fiction. It went to show that even if I was in a murder scene, things could always get worse.

Like pudding.

@xinoehp512

@AonEne

@Dr. Dapper

Edited September 3, 2019 by I think I am here.

[Rebecca]

15 hours ago, Zath said:

Zath got to his feet and gingerly rubbed the small of his back.  "I'm Zath.  You're Rebecca, right?" he said to the bridesmaid.  Then he addressed the other guy, "And you're... Well, you're here, I think.  ...Oh!  You must be Itiah!  It's good to meet you both.  Or, re-meet, I guess.  Or, roleplay-meet for the first time.  Or, well, you know what I mean."

“Yes, I’m Rebecca,” she replied, giving Zath a smile, “It’s nice to meet you too.”

The last couple sentences of what Zath had said didn’t really make sense to Rebecca, but she decided to just pretend like she understood what he was saying, and nodded politely.

[AonEne]

Deteca saw Cassie shiver, but say nothing. She spoke up herself. “I believe Ene may have been a Narrator at one point, but she left them long ago. Never talked about them much - at least not to me - but I got the impression that she often regretted leaving.” It hit her all at once that with her Writer gone, there was no one to protect her from an attack by another Writer. Even if they’d all banded together...something like that could be disastrous. But they wouldn’t, she reminded herself. They have laws, and harsh punishments for breaking them. She eyed the other man who’d walked over nervously. 

*** 

Wending through the crowd, Ieiea made her way to Zath. “Hey - it’s Zath, right?” 

On 9/2/2019 at 4:39 PM, Zath said:

As Zath spoke, the Cavalier King Charles spaniel head protruding from the collar of his jacket nosed at Ene's hair and even tried to nibble on it, but the paramedics lifted Ene onto a stretcher and out of the dog's reach. 

Quote

You can eat my hair anytime  

Xino, I have a few ideas for where to take this. Trying to decide which to go for. Depends on what we do next, I guess. 

 

[xinoehp512]

3 minutes ago, AonEne said:

Deteca saw Cassie shiver, but say nothing. She spoke up herself. “I believe Ene may have been a Narrator at one point, but she left them long ago. Never talked about them much - at least not to me - but I got the impression that she often regretted leaving.” It hit her all at once that with her Writer gone, there was no one to protect her from an attack by another Writer. Even if they’d all banded together...something like that could be disastrous. But they wouldn’t, she reminded herself. They have laws, and harsh punishments for breaking them. She eyed the other man who’d walked over nervously. 

*** 

Wending through the crowd, Ieiea made her way to Zath. “Hey - it’s Zath, right?” 

 

The man shrugged. "I only visited them once. What I saw, though..." he turned his head to look at the fallen groom. "It looked almost exactly like this."

[I think I am here.]

1 hour ago, xinoehp512 said:

The man shrugged. "I only visited them once. What I saw, though..." he turned his head to look at the fallen groom. "It looked almost exactly like this."

“So... writers are bad guys?” I said, did that make me a bad guy. Was I even a writer?

[AonEne]

“You saw someone die?” Cassie asked, wide-eyed. 

[xinoehp512]

29 minutes ago, I think I am here. said:

“So... writers are bad guys?” I said, did that make me a bad guy. Was I even a writer?

"Only sometimes," said the man. "Just like everyone else."

17 minutes ago, AonEne said:

“You saw someone die?” Cassie asked, wide-eyed. 

"Yes," said the man soberly. "And worse."