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DUST TO DUST ❅ EVENT
It will take them time to discern the cause. After all, all the artifacts brought back from the fight with Project Prometheus were deemed safe or at least contained, only able to have their dangerous power unleashed if people were dumb enough to try it.
The altheiometer is not the real thing. It was created by the belief of a child, after reading a certain book series, and therefore is more of a symbolic object, with none of the real capabilities of the device in fiction. Instead, it had other magical abilities. It was not entirely understood by the Project itself, just kept there to be studied and eventually co-opted for sinister use if possible. But it had remained inert in their company.
At the Pole, it passes the magical scan, since it technically is "safe," then finally activates. It works on a child's logic, after all. A child would think daemons are cool but wouldn't think bad people deserved them. A child would think the device should only activate to let good guys have daemons.
In the study containing the safer artifacts, the altheiometer opens of its own accord. Gears turn. The hands start clicking as they move in circles around its clock-like face, rotating back and forth between different symbols. The hands finally stop, clicking as they meet in the same spot, on the symbol of an apple, with a bite taken out of it.
It's all very metaphorical isn't it. The soul can't exist without free will. In some worlds they think free will only exists because of an apple in a garden.
There is a burst of light and sound that reverberates through the Pole. As the floor shakes, everyone sees a brief glimpse of the wave as it passes through walls - and then passes through each of them. Getting hit by it is like getting hit by a storm wave in the ocean, briefly lifting everyone off their feet.
Alongside the sensation of being briefly levitated, there is also the painful sensation of suddenly being aware of something deep inside, briefly made to feel almost like a splinter in their very core.
Then, with all the subtlety of getting attacked with a giant hole punch, the splinter is removed, excised. It does hurt, but there is also a strange relief. Except...whatever it was, it's still here. Next to each of the Guardians. Still attached, just...an externality now.
The wave crashes to the shore. They're all knocked to the floor again.
If they were alone in a room, they aren't now. If they weren't alone in a room, said room's occupants have now doubled.
Each PC now temporarily has a daemon. Daemons are the soul externalized, sentient and able to talk. Taking the form of animals, they often shapeshift and change forms during someone's childhood, but settle into a permanent shape during someone's teen years as the person's personality becomes more concrete and distinct.
- Form: A daemon takes an animal form that represents the person's personality. They usually have a gender opposite to their respective person's, but there are sometimes exceptions, sometimes for entirely unknown reasons, or if the person is some flavor of queer. Daemons will know that they're their owner's soul and be able to tell them that.
- Daemon Selection: Here is a page with interpretations of a few animals and what types of personalities they can represent, but please don't take it as law. It's just possible inspiration. The daemons can be any animal. For characters not from Earth, their daemons can be animals that are entirely made up or ones in their canons.
- Link: Daemons are connected metaphysically to their person through an invisible link, allowing that person to still be attached to their soul. Moving too far from your daemon can cause physical and spiritual agony. Suddenly being ripped apart by a great distance can kill someone. Killing a daemon - which is only as hardy as the animal they are - also kills their owner.
- Personalities: Daemon personalities are often similar to their owner's, but sometimes daemons are more willing to be honest about feelings or subconscious impulses. For instance, daemons often instinctually show affection to the daemons of people their owner is fond of. Daemons will remember everything their owner remembers, and was basically there the whole time they were alive, just integrated. Despite being externalized, they aren't something separate from each person, they were always a part of them.
- Physical Contact: People can touch their own daemons without effects and cuddling their daemon can be a positive experience of self-love. Someone hurting their own daemon can feel like they've caused the damage to themselves, and hurts on a spiritual or almost self-hating level. Meanwhile, picking up someone else's daemon without permission can cause incredible discomfort and pain. Alternately, touching someone's daemon with permission can cause comfort, a surge of happiness, or even pleasure, depending on the context of the contact and the relationship the two people have.
❅ Event Length: The plot will last an OOC and IC 2 weeks before they can figure out what's causing the change and reverse it, making the daemons internal again. During this time, allies of the Guardians will temporarily take over their duties and fortunately no major crises will happen. Players can set their own opens during this time as well as play out anything that happens over the whole 2 weeks in this post.
❅ New Characters: If your character is introing at this time, assume they arrived just in time for the magical wave to hit them, or walked into a cloud of its residual energy.
❅ Opt-out: Anyone that doesn't want to play in the plot or have a daemon can handwave Vasilisa's magical defenses caught on to the power surge and her glowing charms protected at least some people in the Pole from the transformation. You can ignore this and thread as if there's just a little extra chaos around the Pole.
❅ Jack Frost: There will also be a network post with Jack explaining what Vasilisa has magically discerned has happened. It will take time to find the source, as the altheiometer is very good at cloaking its readings and registered as "safe." (Technically, it is safe, it's just...inconvenient.)
no subject
"I don't think-"
"That's what I said." and she's rounding on Boba again, who clearly doesn't look pleased with the idea of the small creature being any part of him. "Ni gar eyaya'runi.*"
Boba crosses his arms. "Ni ne'serim. Nu draar.*"
The alien mouse looks to Rita like can you believe this guy?
"I'm Vercopa'kara. You can call me Kara."
*I'm your soul-echo
*You're wrong. Absolutely not.
no subject
She tolerates the hissy fit better than one would expect, given the typical high-nerves falcon personality. Because she is Miguel's echo, Boba and his daemon by extension are sat firmly in the 'nestling' category, and nestlings tend to make a lot of noise as a general rule.
Still, she is sympathetic to Kara dealing with her human's mirror stubbornness, but it's hard to read in the always-alert bird eyes. She gets to her feet.
"Kara is right, you know." she says in agreement. "You two have to protect each other. That's how this works."
"We're learning the rules as they go." adds Miguel with a certain patient levity for all the shenanigans in front of him.
no subject
"This is stupid," Boba declares as if that will end the discussion. It doesn't.
"Rules are stupid," Kara corrects. "The rules are whatever we want them to be."
Boba seems to consider this for a moment. Being stuck with some stupid sea-mouse that's supposed to be say something about who he is sounds terrible-- making up their own rules sounds much better.
"Fine." He crouches down and sticks out his hand. Kara reaches out a paw to shake it. They're both very serious about this.
Boba lifts her up and allows her to climb onto his shoulder, then turns to Miguel and Rita.
"Figures you'd get a jai'galaar*," he grumbles. They both seem to have forgotten that Boba's been trying to stay away from Miguel. Not entirely, not anymore, but enough to avoid having any long conversations where he might have to explain himself.
*Shiek-hawk
no subject
She wants to say something - but Miguel had taken to heart the lesson to be more lenient and less worrisome around the kid. Even he seemed dead set on flinging himself into danger. So he just makes eye contact with the bird, noting Boba's observation, and finds himself lacking an explanation.
The... energy was right, even if she went against his whole costume theme.
"Is Kara a creature from your home world?" he asks, figuring that was an innocuous enough question. Rita hops up to gain a little elevation, notably using a wooden nook in their surroundings rather than staying perched on Miguel himself. The talons didn't puncture his suit, but they were sharp.
no subject
Kara rears onto he hind legs and puffs her chest out proudly.
"I'm a sea-mouse from the ocean planet Kamino."
Boba rolls his eyes-- he clearly doesn't think that it's all that impressive. Kara tugs on his earlobe in retaliation.
"A real one," she specifies. "Not like the genetically altered ones in the labs."
Boba is surprised by this. He never gave much thought to the little mice he would see in the cloning facility. He just assumed that was where his dad got the sea-mice to feed his eel. He never thought about whether there could be wild mice living in the ocean, or that they might be different from the captive ones.